The Switch
by EllaRizzz
Summary: Serena Kingston and her sister Mina were twins and that's as far as their similarities went ; the former was a simpleton and the latter a diva. But their love for one another was unconditional, for that was the only reason Serena went ahead with her sister's crazy plan to fool Mina's fiancé Darien Shields into believing she was Mina.
1. The Plan

The SWITCH

I do not own sailor moon or any of its characters.

Serena Kingston and her sister Mina were twins and that's as far as their similarities went ; the former was a simpleton and the latter a diva. But their love for one another was unconditional, for that was the only reason Serena went ahead with her sister's crazy plan to fool Mina's fiancé Darien Shields into believing she was Mina.

Serena had been sitting and sobbing silently in her room alone whilst cozily tucked into to her armchair. She had been reading Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns and having the best time reading the deep and complex emotions her favorite author had woven into the tale. Serena was in her element, her surroundings serene and quiet like she liked them. She had always been extremely awkward socially, her books were her friends, her solace, her world. She always drowned herself in them, living the stories she read, befriending the characters, loving them, understanding them,never feeling the need for human companionship.

Serena loved the way her life was, at 24 she was not complaining. She had everything she ever needed, why would she complain when so many people had far less, she had a loving mother Irene, an amazing father and the most gorgeous and understanding sister, who also happened to be her best and only friend, her only contact to the real world. Serena had always been teased in school because of her shy nature. She was different from the other kids, far smarter than her years and all her peers. That was the reason they picked on her so much because they couldnt understand her, eventually she got pushed into a shell. Her only friend was her sister, she always defended her, always protected her, got into fights for her. Serena remembered once a boy had cut a lock of her long precious hair with a pair of scissors, when Mina found out about it she had, she had taken an entire box of super glue and poured it down his head, the boy had to go bald. Mina's out going ways did make her famous too, she was fierce and also friendly, she made alot of friends and was very active socially.

Although, they were twins Serena and Mina their looks were as far as their similarities went, where Serena was an introvert, quiet and shy, Mina was the outgoing, loud and vivacious girl. And yet, they managed to be 2 bodies and 1 soul. Serena was a happy girl what else could one ask for in her entire life.

As a new chapter approached in her book, Serena took a moment from the book to just gather herself. She looked out her window, it was a so tranquil so serene, Serena sat listening to the silence enjoying her own company she loved these moments she had to herself and she did have them a lot.

And with a loud thud and a bang the moment was over. Her door swung open. Serena knew without looking that the grand entrance belonged to her beloved sister. She watched as her sister walked into her room huffing and puffing indignantly. Mina came and sat across Serena on the adjacent armchair and let out a sigh of frustration.

Serena dint have to ask to know who was her sister's tormentor. "So, what he do this time?"

Mina huffed. "You don't want to know don't even get me started"

"Ok, if you don't want to talk about it,it is totally alright", Serena said almost hopefully, she dint really want to hear Mina's tirade about her super rich tycoon fiancé, Darien Shields.

Ignoring her sister's statement almost immediately Mina wailed "That man is the most frustrating, stubborn and arrogant creature on the planet, alright perhaps he has the looks, brains and money to carry it off, but he is still unbearable!" She finished the sentence in one breathe and went ahead to take a long, much needed intake of air.

Serena was now amused, "Go on" she obliged her sister. She watched as her sister absently played with her perfectly shaped and manicured nails, she then slouched back in her chair and sighed. Serena thought back to Darien Shields, he was their father's business associate Mr. Edmund Shields only child. Serena had only met Darien once briefly on the day of Mina's engagement to Darien. He was aloof, distant and absolutely dead drop gorgeous. Serena would never even accept it to herself, but she ever so slightly had a crush on him. He was exactly like the men she read about in books, his perfection was almost poetic. He naturally came from a wealthy family and the merger of their father's company with the Shields corp. was the talk of town. Mina had been chosen to marry Darien, obviously they were a better match, with Mina's social life and ways and Darien's status in society, they would make the power couple of the decade.

"Well, I invited him to a party Rei's house, to which you were invited may I remind you and you passed, he came in a whole hour late, not just that all the women were just throwing themselves at him and not that I care, honestly, but then, I told him to just stay by my side for a while and look lika a happy couple and he did"

"Well, but isn't that good"

"Let me finish, it was this pool side thing and I was wearing these high heels and one thing lead to another and I kind of fell in the pool and guess what!"

"What?"

"He laughed!" Mina whined and pouted, her beautiful cornflower blue eyes teary from unshed tears.

Serena let out a bark of laughter and then tried to control it by clamping both her hands down on her mouth, her body shaking violently with the effort to control the laugh she was withholding.

Looking at her younger sister's reaction Mina felt better, she giggled a little and said "Ok, it probably was a little funny, when he took a picture of me spluttering in the water like a chicken.

Serena now laughed out loud, not able to hold her mirth in, she laughed till tears rolled down her eyes and her face was flushed red, and then she realized how intently her sister was staring at her, her mirth died a silent, painless death. Serena's stomach lurched she knew that look, it never translated into anything good.

"I need to tell you something, Rena"

"Yes?" Serena asked meekly.

"I am in love with someone and I need out of this relationship and you need to help me."

"WHAT! And how do I do that!"

"You need to be me for a few days, simple"

"WHAT!"

"You need to pretend to be me in front of Shields."

"I can't, how can I, it will never work!" Serena gasped

"You can, Sere!" "You have to help me, I tried working it out with Shields, I tried leaving Andrew, but I cannot do it, I love him too much, and I can never look at Darien the same, its unfair to all of us! Please Sere this is temporary, just for a few days" Mina pleaded, moving forward from her slouched position to a more upright posture, she took one of Serena's hands and clasped it in her own for affect.

"But if our parents or worse the Shields ever find out we will be in grave trouble! Dad could be humiliated, we could be ruined, you know that, don't you?" Serena reasoned weakly.

"Yes, I do, but this is short and it will be quick we will make it so that Darien himself will want to end the engagement! No one will ever find out!"

Serena thought long. She looked at her sisters wide imploring eyes, hers were more unsure though.

" Alright. But if we get caught, I am going to tell everyone this was entirely your plan!" She smiled

"Oh My God! Thank you, Sere!", her sister gushed "Deal!, but you never know, maybe Mr Shields may really fall for you, eh?"

Serena blushed. As if, he was way too out of her league, but she did accept it, if only to herself, she was a little excited to be in the company of such a fine man.


	2. It's Time

Serena woke up on a cool Saturday morning, winter was approaching, she loved winter, it was her favorite time of the year. It was the time of the year when everyone stayed home with their families and enjoyed warm conversations, over hot coffee and comforting fires. It was the time when people would snuggle into warm sweaters and just enjoy a book. It was time to come face to face with, Darien Shields.

The sky had just started lighting itself up, and a few birds were chirping in the garden below her room. Serena slowly got out of bed and walked into her open balcony. She lived on the first story of the mansion she called home. The air outside was crisp and it gave her cheeks a sight blush, she took in a long lung full of air and exhaled, the smell of roses wafted through the air, it was beautiful outside, the sky was hues of purples and pink, a few early birds were searching for their worms and the sun had just started to peak from the behind the tall trees in the skyline.

Serena's mind drifted to her predicament at hand,a week ago her sister had begged her to help fool her fiancé and she had agreed, but what would come of this, she was not sure, Serena's parents could never know of this, they could tell one from the other, her parents Irene and Ken knew every difference between the two blondes. But that was probably the least of her worries, what if the Shields found out? That would be disastrous. Her father had been close friends with Edmund Shields for a long time now, dating back to high school. They would meet each other often during business events and social gatherings, after all the town of Merryland(it is fictional I made it up due to lack of knowing where to place this story) was not very big. Serena had met Edmund Shields on many occasions, although it was always brief, he was an intimidating and well built man, with shiny sapphire eyes and a kind smile.

Darien on the other hand was not the same, although she knew he had the same physicality of his father, he was cold and aloof. In all her time knowing his father she had only seen him from afar on a few occasions, he probably never even noticed her. Serena had spoken to him ever so briefly had her sister's engagement party to wish him luck for his wedding, he thanked her mechanically not even pretending to smile and she could have sworn she saw statues with more expressions than this man. It gave him a very dangerous persona. Serena had heard from Mina all about how he had women milling all over him and he was always seen with different women at social gatherings and was completely noncommittal. Serena could understand why Mina would not want to spend the rest of her life with him, how would she, she would never be happy with him.

A knock on the door pulled Serena out of her reverie. She turned around and beckoned the person to enter, it was Mina. She rushed into Serena's room with several dresses in her hand and promptly flung them on Serena's bed.

"These are for you to try on, I dint know which one to pick so I got a few, go try them on"

"But I thought I would wear my own clothes!"

" No way"

"Why not!" Serena whined

"Cause then it will be the first give away that something is fishy!"

"No it wont"

" Yes it will and if you don't put these on by yourself right now Serenity Kingston, I will put them on for you, is that clear?" Mina finished

"Yes" Serena replied her eyes widening, she quickly picked up a few dresses and went to get ready for the day.

19 dresses and 4 hours later Serena was ready, Mina had made her try on several dresses and finally she looked pleased, it was as if Serena was her own personal Barbie, Mina beamed, she had settled on the dress Serena currently wore, it was an aquamarine maxi wrap with, 3/4th sleeves and a belt in the middle, the dress had a neckline that was a little more plunging than would be considered modest and it gave a lovely view of Serena's creamy skin and cleavage. Everytime Serena took a step forward the dress would part to display a creamy leg right uptil her upper thigh.

" Oh this looks so lovely, Sere, you look amazing!" Mina clapped her hands and giggled.

"Who wears something like this in the morning!"

" I do!" Mina looked at her with mock offence "And besides he is taking me-no-you to some fancy place for brunch and then somewhere else, so you can't take chances, it is my image that can't be put on line here, Sere." She finished being completely dramatic.

Serena rolled her eyes "Oh stop with the Drama already!"

Mina took off her pink pumps and handed them to Serena "Here put these on."

"What! Have you seen the heels on those! Who the hell walks in these? They are what, 5 inches?"

"Now who is being dramatic? Just wear them their very comfortable and by the time he arrives to get you can practice to walk in them."

Serena took them reluctantly and slipped them on. Mina was right they were kind of comfy, they spent the rest of the time doing Serena's make up, setting her hair, practicing how to walk and having a jolly swell time.

At 12 there was knock on Serena's door, "Come in" Serena beckoned

"Mr. Shields had arrived and is waiting in the foyer for you, Miss Kingston" The statement was directed towards Mina.

"Tell him I will be down shortly" and the maid was dismissed.

The sisters looked at one another, they both were nervous, but Mina's corn flower eyes also reflected excitement and mirth. But Serena's cerulean eyes did not reflect any of that, she was scared, tensed and and uncertain.

"What if he figures it all out Mina?"

"He won't, love"

"Because you look so stunning, he won't be able to think beyond that"

Serena blushed. "Oh Mina"

"Thank you, Sere" Mina whispered, unshed tears sparkled in her eyes.

"Anything for you." Serena gave her sister a benevolent smile.

Mina pulled her into a fierce hug, Serena hugged her back.

"I should be going now, wish me luck."

"Bonne Chance, darling." Mina giggled in a fake British accent.

They giggled, making Serena feel ever so relieved.

They exited the room, gave each other a parting hug and were heading in different directions, when Mina turned around and said.

"Oh, and Serena?"

"Yes, Mina?"

"Stop fidgeting so much and be confident, you look gorgeous, he can never tell."

"I'll try." She smiled weakly.

Serena walked towards the foyer. Trying to not expose so much of her leg as she walked, but no matter how she tried the dress would part and expose one creamy leg almost entirely, how would she not fidget, life was unfair.

As she approached the foyer she mustered all her confidence, straightened her back and tried to look as composed and Mina-like as she could.

She walked down the stairs as best she could, without tripping and rolling the rest of her way down. Mina was graceful effortlessly, as she concentrated on not falling down and breaking her crown and having her dress come tumbling after, she remarked how Mina could do this running, she had to give her credit.

Serena made it down the stairs intact and unhurt, she exhaled loudly in relief. "Well, now that that's done. Finally. Let's….."

"Yes, Finally." Serena's head snapped up at the husky voice.


	3. Finally

Darien noted, her surprise, her eyes widened and a deep red flush formed on her cheeks and spread across her face down to her neck. He had been watching Mina get down the stairs, she had seen him standing down waiting for her. He had never been attracted to her, but today she looked good. He noticed her skin wasn't tanned anymore and her hair seemed shinier, her make up minimalistic, her breasts seemed fuller and her body curvier. She looked just a little healthier rather than her skinny self that survived only on salads. He took in her appearance carefully, from her pump encased legs, to her small waste to her sun spun hair. She dint notice.

"Oh, I dint see you standing there, you surprised me." Serena breathed, she was now standing at an arm's distance from Darien now. In her high heels she stood a few inches above his shoulders . He was looking at her intently, with those sapphire eyes, she couldn't read them, but she knew they were assessing her. Something flickered in them for just the tiniest moment and then it was gone, Serena could almost say she imagined it. She felt vulnerable standing there in that awkward silence, her heart racing a mile a minute and she knew if they just stood there and looked at one another like that the charade was probably over before it even started.

"My apologies." He said mechanically.

She smiled.

"How are you today, Mina?" He asked, making it pretty obvious he would rather not hear the answer.

"Fine. And you?"

"Ecstatic." He replied in the most bored and not ecstatic manner.

"Shall we?" Serena said suddenly, and rather impatiently.

It dint go unnoticed though. "Of course." He offered her the crook of his arm and after a moment of hesitation, she linked hers shyly with his resting one pale hand on his forearm. She smelt appealing today, like lilies, he liked it, of course he wouldn't ever accept it. But generally her perfume was always strong and loud, today it was ethereal.

As they were approaching the door, Serena felt victorious that she had made it out successfully without being seen, stopped and recognized.

"Oh Darien, when did you come in? Mina honey, where have you been all morning!" Her mother called out.

Serena froze mid step, her eyes widened and her breathe caught in her throat. Busted. Wow This went well. Like the plan worked for a whole 10 minutes, I dint even expect it to work for a minute.

Darien turned his neck around to greet her mother. He smiled and said "Oh, Hello, Mrs. Kingston, you look lovely today."

"Oh thank you, you look stunning yourself" She beamed.

Serena stood there stiff as a rod not turning. Her grip on Darien's hand suddenly tightened. She needed to get out of here right now! Come on, think Serene! Think!

"Mom! You know what bad luck it brings to call someone out from behind when their leaving! Now my day is dooooomed!" She moaned like Mina as best she could, being dramatic.

"Oh, Honey, I am so sorry, I dint realize, you should carry on."

And after that the shy girl of a few moments ago was gone, she literally dragged Darien out of the house with her. She was strong for a small woman, he thought to himself as he stumbled just a little before he regained his footing and let her drag him.

Serena's heart was thumping, she had done the first thing that came to her mind without thinking, and now she realized he probably noticed it, those dark blue eyes looked like they missed nothing, but he dint show it, he looked like he dint find anything out of the ordinary, and so Serena would like to believe it. She had to make this work. This charade had already begun and now there was no going back. Serena realized that now she wasn't only just protecting her sister but, her parents too. Serena suddenly felt weighed down and petrified. Oh God! What had she gotten herself into. She sighed loudly.

Darien heard her below him and looked at her. Why did she seem different today, she believed in superstitions? Felt odd, he had been with Mina on 5 dates and met her on several events, where they had to act like the perfect pair and never did she come across as superstitious! Odd. But, he dint care to know Mina at all, for him marrying her was purely for his business and family. He dint trust women and that was another long story he dint want to indulge in right now.

They finally made it to his car parked up front. It was a jaguar xjl and Darien moved forward to open the door for Serena, she bestowed a smile and got in gracefully, as she got in and took a seat with her one leg still out, he got a lovey view of her long, silky leg. Her dressed hiked up even further than it did went she walked and he could see upto the entire length of her thigh. His eyes roamed it openly, but she dint notice, she had already pulled it in and covered her leg with her skirt. This maybe an interesting day Darien observed to himself. He shut the door and walked to his side.

He got inside the car and starting the ignition and turned to looked at his companion. She sat quietly fidgeting a little, when she saw him looking at her and she questioned him silently with her eyes. Those eyes, he realized for the first time were the color of the warm summer sky, he felt drawn, but just as it began it ended. He felt a little taken aback, what just happened there, but before he could answer himself he put the car in gear and accelerated.

"I never realized your hair was platinum blonde." He said ending the odd silence.

"Oh." She said simply not knowing whatelse to say.

"Yeah, and that long too." He added

"Oh yeah it's always been this way." She replied not thinking much of it, she was always complimented for her hair and she dint realize that she made a slight slip, Mina had long hair but mid back length and it was always set, Serena had hair that ran till the small of her back. If he caught her fault there she was done for, but again he dint seem to notice and she took that as a positive sign, it was an off handed sort of conversation he probably wouldn't remember, she hoped. She should've known better.

"Where are we going?" She asked swiftly changing the topic.

"The Royal Club."

Serena eyes widened a little. Oh my God, not there, they were members there! She had to show her card when she entered. No way! First her mother and now this, she was starting to believe in superstitions herself! This was her mother's fault, why mom, why! Why did you call out from behind! She had to come up with something, something good something smart, a plan started to form in her head, something that was crazy enough to work, it had to work, it was her only save, she could do this!

Darien watched from the corner of his eyes, he watched as she was deep in thought, her eyes would widen, then go back to normal, several emotions passed through her eyes. What was she thinking? For some odd reason, she was intriguing him, he felt curious, he wanted to know what was going on in that head, she was behaving mysteriously today. His attention stayed on her the entire way as they made their way to the elite club. Indeed this was going to be a very interesting day.

They reached the club and their doors were opened by the staff to let them out, Darien got out of the car first and waited for who he assumed was Mina. As she put her first leg out to get out, again a lovely view of her creamy legs was displayed for the world to see, the man holding her door openly gawked at her. Darien frowned. She leaned a little forward to come out and now her lovely neckline was on display too, Darien frowned a little more. The man put his hand out to help Serena and she smiled and slowly moved to take the offered hand for support, the skirt she wore were giving her trouble getting out. Before she could take his hand, another hand offered itself.

"Come on." she looked up to meet the darkest blue eyes she had ever seen.

She hesitated momentarily, then took his hand. She felt a bolt of electricity run through her hand where he touched her. She composed herself and looked up at him.

"Thank you." She smiled at him, the most radiant smile.

His heart ever so slightly skipped a small beat, he ignored it completely. He nodded. He helped her out and ignored the man who was helping her a minute ago completely. It may have sounded the slightest bit stupid, but he felt like he won, when she took his hand. He suddenly realized what he was thinking! What was the matter with him! He scolded himself. He hadn't ever liked her in all the months he had been engaged to her, he still dint like her! So why did he feel annoyed with all the attention that she was still receiving. Why was he thinking so much! It was just something he did out of his sense of chivalry he decided, and nothing else! And he promptly shook his head and pushed all the thoughts to the back of his mind. This woman was an enigma.

They climbed the small flight of stairs upto the main reception, Darien still holding her hand firmly. The young guard at the gate greeted them.

"Good day Mr. Shields, Ms. Kingston." He gave the lovely lady a bright flirtatious smile.

Darien nodded.

Serena beamed back, clearly taking the smile to be the guard's good nature only "Hello."

Darien frowned. When did she become so naïve.

As they approached the reception, Serena knew it was time to bring her plan into action, she let go of Darien's hand and he dint realize it, he looked preoccupied frowning and thinking something. They were almost at the reception the man at the reception smiled and greeted Darien, he knew the young man, who frequented the club often. Darien pulled out his card, as the man turned to Serena for hers, she knew it was now or never. Mina you owe me big time she thought before she counted 3,2,1…

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhhhh."


	4. The Interesting Day

The Interesting Day

Darien heard a scream and whipped his head around to see his fiancée sprawled over the marble floor and flinching in pain. He found himself rushing to help her.

"Are you alright" he asked her, his voice laced with concern.

Serena looked up at him and blood rushed to her face, she couldn't believe she had just faked a fall right now.

"I think I sprained my ankle pretty bad." She moaned.

As Darien looked down in the direction of her injury, he noticed that her dress at hiked up almost uptil her waist,her legs were completely on display again, and he secretly admired them, as he slowly looked them over till they rested on her ankle where she had been injured. He couldn't believe he was checking her out, he had started getting attracted to her. He couldn't believe that he had just accepted that to himself, he was going insane, he dint understand why was he suddenly attracted to her, he knew her for a while now and he never really cared, so why now, why so suddenly, what had changed! He was just being stupid he rationalized, very stupid.

As his thoughts cleared, he realised everyone was staring at the poor girl now half sitting in front of him. He saw her redden all the way to her chest when she saw everyone watching her. What she dint see and Darien did, was all the men were having a field day gawking her. One of the men walked up to her and offered his hand.

"Need a hand miss?"

"No. Thank you." Darien replied simply

Serena looked at him. It fascinated him that it was her eyes that were were questioning him.

"I mean," he explained, "I'll carry her, there's no problem."

An awkward silence ensued. The man smiled politely at Serena and left reluctantly.

Serena's heart was pounding in her chest, was he seriously going to pick her up and walk her through to the restaurant? This day was going from weird to bizarre. Oh Mina, what have you gotten me into. If she thought the fall was mortifying, being carried through the club in Darien Shields arms like a doll on display was going to kill her! Serena promised herself once this entire charade was over she would never walk in public again. She would probably move to India and volunteer as a teacher in one to of the village schools. Yes! No one would ever recognise her there!

"Put your arm around my neck."

"Huh?" Serena was pulled out of her tragic thoughts.

"Put your arm around my neck." Darien said more assertively.

"But Darien, everyone is going to be looking at us!."

"So.?" He asked quizzically.

"I can walk." She replied, avoiding the answer to the question he had asked her.

"No, you can't!"

"Yes, I can!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No.!"

"Yes!"

"No. You can't." he said simply

"Yes I caaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..."

Before Serena could even finish her sentence she had been suddenly swooped up easily into a pair of strong of arms. As a reflex Serena's arms wrapped themselves around his neck to balance herself. Serena stared up at Darien with wide, surprised eyes, her lips parted in a gasp and he looked down at her with a smug smirk plastered on his sexy full lips.

"No, you can't." He said with a light chuckle and proceeded to carry her in.

Oh God the things she was doing to help her sister! The day hadn't even begun yet, would she be able to survive this charade. As Serena's thoughts went to Mina, she remembered Mina telling her he was rude and hadn't helped her when she had fallen in the pool, he had laughed at her and even taken a picture, and here he was carrying her in his strong arms like she weighed nothing. She looked up at Darien and wondered about who this man really was, the sarcastic man who her sister said was cold, heartless and distant, or the fairytale Prince Charming that he so resembled.

Darien felt her eyes on him and looked down, she was looking at him in wonder, her eyes were analyzing him, her rose red lips parted a little, she was looking at him as if she was looking at him for the first time. Then he realized he had never really been this civil will with her before she was probably surprised at his behavior. In all honesty he was too. His gaze lingered just for a second on her lips, he suddenly felt like he wanted to see if they felt as soft as they looked, did they taste as...Ok no Darien stop right there he told himself. He was no Saint and he knew that and Darien enjoyed the company of women, but this was his father's friend's daughter and his father had requested that he would not hurt her with his ways. He wouldn't hurt her he promised himself.

When they reached the restaurant Darien set Serena down on her seat. She snapped out of her thoughts about her sister's fiancé and looked around. They were at the pool side restaurant. She always liked this place, even though it was loud and people were always splashing around, Serena loved to swim. The restaurant was a few feet away from the pool to avoid any splashes on diners.

Darien took a seat opposite her and picked up the menu, she picked up her own and started looking through it. She realised she hadn't eaten at all that day, ever since she had woken up she was up and about getting ready for her date today.

The waiter came in to take their orders and Darien ordered; prawns for starters, a steak for his entrée, a cheesecake for dessert, with beer.

The waiter turned to Serena for her order, he looked at her a little too appreciatively and it dint miss Darien's keen eyes. Serena smiled at the waiter unknowingly and placed her order,

"I'll have the cajun chicken wings for starters, an extra large chicken burger with extra cheese and chipotle mayo, with a side of french fries, some chocolate ice cream for dessert and a chocolate milkshake. That would be all thank you. She beamed contentedly.

The waiter stared at the gorgeous glut that was sitting in front of him, smiling at him. He smiled and left quietly.

Darien was staring at her in shock too.

"That's it?!" He asked her sarcastically.

To Darien's immense surprise she missed it and replied "Yeah, actually I don't like wasting food, but if it isn't enough we can always order more, right!" How sweet she thought he is, asking her if she wanted more and would this be enough. She gave him an innocent smile.

"Your like a hungry fat man stuck inside the body of a tiny clumsy girl." Darien remarked.

Serena felt a little hurt and offended, realizing he was being sarcastic all this time, " Hey I haven't even eaten breakfast, ok!"

"Since how many years?" He was enjoying getting a rise out of her.

She flushed a little with indignation. "Watch your mouth buddy or you'll have to pay for being a wise guy." She threatened

Darien felt ever so slightly intimidated, but immediately pushed it down and retorted "Watcha gonna do? Eat me up too?"

"I don't eat garbage." She said with a smug grin.

"Who you calling garbage?" Darien asked annoyed

"You, white boy." She answered back immediately

"Did you just call me white boy?" Darien asked in disbelief.

"U-huh what you going to do about it, go home and tell mommy?" Serena pouted, batting her eyelashes for affect.

"Why you big little baby elephant take that", with that Darien plucked Serena on the arm with measured but good force.

"Owwwwww", she whimpered, as she rubbed the spot where he plucked her leaving a red mark" Did you just pluck me? Oh my God you are so dead." She warned

"Yes, I did and I'll do it again! "He quickly plucked her again on the arm that was resting on the table."

"Owwwwwww" She rubbed her sore spot.

He chuckled victoriously, but his smile faded when she spoke again in an ominous voice,

"You can laugh now all you want, Shields, but be warned, watch your back cause I'll be there every time you turn around, and when you least expect it, I'll have my revenge." And then she laughed the creepiest laugh Darien has ever heard.

Darien was perplexed when the angel that sat in front of him transformed into Satan himself." He felt intimidated, threatened and very turned on right now. Mina was right, it's a bad omen to call people out from behind, look at what the day had turned into today.

As Darien was about to retort their food arrived. Thankful for the distraction they both dug into their food, Darien dint realize how hungry he had been till he started eating.

When he looked up from his steak he saw the angel sitting in front of him eating a burger in silence, as he watched her he was reminded of a documentary he had once seen on hippos of Africa on National Geographic, he chuckled at his personal joke while looking at her. The sound did reward him a glare from the mammal that kills the most number of people in Africa every year, and that made him promptly look down and continue his meal.

Darien felt oddly content, he did not remember the last time he enjoyed a conversation so much, he had to thank God for whatever was wrong with Mina today, at least now he was enjoying her company.

Insufferable jerk, Serena thought. Oooooh and to think that I thought he was chivalrous! He is an ass! But he did carry me all the way till here, he isn't that bad. No he is, he called me an elephant! Baby elephant, her heart corrected, yeah whatever he is a mean man and he will pay, you'll see and so will he.

Serena hadn't realized the kind of reaction this man was extracting from here within a few hours of meeting her. She dint know, that she was already on the rapid downward spiral that was love.

Together they ate in comfortable silence. Neither one said a word to the other, the silence was only broken when Serena was trying to suck up every last bit of her milkshake and there was barely anything in the glass but air. Darien watched her suck on it intently, she turning him on again, was he going crazy, he was being such a creepy pervert today.

"Excuse me, can I have another one." Serena ordered another chocolate milkshake from the waiter, who was more than willing to do anything she asked.

"Stupid waiter" Darien muttered.

"What?" Serena asked thinking he was talking to her.

"Nothing."

"Hmm"

"Soooooo" Darien asked

Serena looked up from her dessert, fixing her gaze on the handsome ass.

"Got any hobbies, other than shopping?" The latter half of his statement being a slight taunt.

"I like to read." Serena answered absently.

'Read? Really? What do you read?" Darien looked surprised with her answer.

Serena realised the slip up as soon as it passed her lips and now Darien was studying her with skeptical eyes. Oh Lord need to fix this.

"Yeah of course, I love reading magazines! They are so informative."

"I see" Darien said simply.

Suddenly Darien's gaze shifted to behind her "Hey Mina, look that's your dad there."

Serena turned around horrified to see her father in the distance, he was shaking hands with some colleagues. She needed go get out of here.

"Oh yeah, dad." She said nervously. "Hey Dare?"

"Yeah?" He asked her unsure of where this was going, she had just popped a pet name for him.

"It's getting late weren't you supposed to take me somewhere else too today."

"Oh yeah"

"Let's go?" She asked hopefully

"Let's meet your father first then?"

Shit she thought "Ummm my leg hurts I can't walk."

"Oh ok so I'll just get him here then"

Before she could protest Darien was already walking toward her father, Oh Christ! What do I do! Serena looked around her for an escape route the entire place was open and there was no where to hide, if she made a run for it she would still be seen and they would stop her, there was only way out of this now.

"Hello, Mr. Kingston" ken turned to see Darien walking toward him.

"Oh hello, son" he greeted him in the jolly way he always did. "It's time you start calling me dad you know."

Darien respected the man, "alright, dad"

"What are you doing here?"

"I am here with Mina, she is right there" he pointed to where they had been sitting just moments and oddly Mina was missing."That's odd, where'd she go?" Darien looked around from where he stood and couldn't find her.

Darien walked back to the table with Ken and looked around for Serena. "Maybe she has gone to the ladies room", Ken suggested.

"Maybe" Darien replied, this was getting strange.

Ken had to leave and go back to his associates and Darien went ahead and looked around for Serena indoors.

When Serena was sure they both had left Serena resurfaced from underneath the  
>water. What option did she have, this had been the only hiding place there was and she was so desperate she had run and dove inside the pool quickly to hide. Her father would know she was Serena not Mina, and he would be hurt, shocked and eventually find out the truth about what his daughters had been doing.<p>

Serena hoisted herself out of the pool, took off her squeaky wet pumps, squeezed the water out of her hair and started padding toward the exit with her pumps in hand. She had to get out of here before Darien saw her like this, it would be a story too hard to explain, she was feeling self-conscious with the looks she was getting from everyone, swiftly and with the stealth of a leopard made her way to the main exit.

As she was about to make it to the end of the corridor that lead to the reception area, she had almost made it out, when Darien just appeared to be entering the corridor after searching for her everywhere else. She froze. He looked concerned she noted, her heart fluttered when she thought that was for her.

"Mina?" Serena's heart fell, when he called her by her sister's name, he thought she was Mina and here she was starting to hope...fool.

"Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere, do you know how wor...much I have been searching for you everywhere?" He hated that he sounded so concerned, he hoped his face dint show it. And then he noticed how her dress was now clinging to her, her hair was wet, the thin material of her dress had turned transparent and he could see he pastel pink bra and matching undies, her dress clung to her chest and tiny waist and he was sure men everywhere had been enjoying the view, he felt oddly irritable.

"Why are you drenched wet?"

She had been trying to think up of an excuse for the first set of questions when the next hit her, and that's when she remembered Mina's story "Well, I was just coming to meet dad and one thing led to another and k fell in the pool."

"Are you alright?" He asked shocking Serena, last time that happened he had laughed at her sister.

"Yeah" She answered hesitantly

"How's your leg, you shouldn't be walking around" he walked upto her and put his suit jacket on her shoulders and picked her up. "I'll drop you home."

"Thank you" was all she could whisper.


	5. Something New

I would like to start off with thanking everyone who actually liked my story and reviewed it, it feels good to feel appreciated, and specially a thank you, "loveinthebattlefield", "moonprincess998"," "devilsangels11287,"you guys have really encouraged me to write more, I don't want anyone to feel like I am ripping of anyone elses story, cause I am genuinely not, honestly, this story is inspired from a book I read way back in high school and I haven't forgotten till date, I've obviously came up with my own situations, but I am not trying to take away anyone's credit or story, so please don't accuse me of that, I am coming clean, just to avoid any future misunderstandings. Forgive me if I unintentionally annoyed or hurt anyone, but it's natural that everyone wants to be liked and appreciated, so I would wish you guys still like my story.

Something New?

Serena stared yet again at the man who was carrying her now, no matter how many times she looked at him she felt taken in by his good looks. Merryland was a small town and everyone knew everyone here, that's how she would keep hearing about Darien, his reputation obviously preceded him. Everyone always said he was such a player where women were concerned, he was non-committal, rude, arrogant, quiet, aloof and simply dead drop gorgeous, but nobody ever mentioned he was caring and a child on the inside. But perhaps he wasn't, maybe she was reading too much into nothing, she was over analyzing him, they said he was a ruthless businessman and he could do anything when he wanted to get something he set his mind to, even be cruel. By instinct she couldn't believe all that, he was coming of as a very different man to her for the few hours she had interacted with him, but that's what all they were, just a few hours and she already thought she knew him well enough to defend him? She was being naïve she admonished herself, but there was no denying there was more to Mr. Shields than what met the eye.

Feeling her eyes on him he looked down on her, as he met her gaze again, he saw her analyzing him, for no reason he could muster up, he wished he knew what she was thinking. She seemed like such a different person today, not the same girl that he was used to, no, today she seemed to be a person displaying more depth of character than before, maybe, he reasoned, she had finally planned to open herself up to him more? Get to know him better maybe, since they were most probably going to be stuck together for the rest of their lives. That made sense he told himself. He admitted he liked this side of her, she was more _bearable_ to be round, infact the last time she had fallen in the pool he has actually found it hilarious, he dint even hide it then, he had laughed on her face, now, he was concerned about her. He dint know what to make of all his mixed up thoughts today, they were all contradicting eachother, he decided he dint want to delve into all this anymore, the more he thought, the more he felt confused, this was just not his day, maybe after dropping her home he could go get some work done, that would take his mind off of all _this_, whatever it was.

As they exited the club lost in their own thoughts, neither of the two realized a figure that had stopped to watch them exit the reception area, with complete shock written on his face. He looked from the tall dark haired man, to the petite blonde he was carrying in his arms. His look went from shock, then hurt, to anger and finally hatred toward the dark haired man. His eyes lingered on them till they vanished from sight.

"Serena." he breathed.

The car ride to Serena's house was painstakingly uncomfortable. She couldn't get herself to stop thinking about him, Darien kept his eyes glued to the road and it took all his strength not to stare at the sexy siren next to him. Now that they were in the confines of the car, alone, he realized how attracted he was finding her today. Not to mention her clothes were clinging to her and transparent, it just worsened things. He sighed loudly, he dint want to travel round this road, again. There had been a reason why he had left Merryland 7 years ago, he had said it was because he wanted to pursue his degree in business management, at Harvard, it wasn't the primary reason for the move though, he had left because he had been hurt…..It worked out for the best though, dint it? The hurt changed into anger and then into this driving motivation, he changed for the good and then after 5 years at 25, he came back to help his father and eventually take over after him.

Darien realized that they had reached her house now, he pulled into her driveway and put the car in park, they sat in silence for a moment, before Serena whispered a, "Thank You, for the lunch."

"Don't mention it."

She looked at him and smiled genuinely.

"You know, Shields, you aren't as bad as people say you are." Serena confessed.

"And what is it, that people say?" He asked her teasingly, turning to look into her bright eyes.

Serena blushed under his imploring gaze and looked away. "They say, you are not very nice."

"And you?" He asked huskily, leaning a little closer to her, awaiting her answer.

"I think there is more to you than you let on." She said still looking away.

Darien raised his brows, half surprised and half intrigued. That was oddly a wise statement coming from her, probably the smartest thing she had ever said to him, with all his time with her, suddenly it seemed like all this time, she had been pretending to be someone else, maybe now she was showing her true self to him, which wasn't half bad. All this time he had been thinking of her as a bimbo, who only cared about looking good, going out, shopping and partying, now, he felt she had another side to her, she was becoming a mysterious novel. She had been analyzing him all these months they were together? Was it a new conclusion, or had she come up with this today? He thought he was a man who controlled his emotions well, but she was reading him so easily? He decided to be more careful around her now on, there was something not quite right here, he knew it instinctively, he trusted his instincts.

Serena turned to look at him, when he failed to answer her. She looked at him staring at her intently, his face guarded, his eyes blank, but she could tell, his mind was working in over drive.

"Darien?"

He was dragged back to reality, when he heard a sweet voice call out his name.

"I could say the same for you too"

"Me?" Serena asked surprised

"Yes, you, you're a master of disguise yourself."

Serena's eyes widened, what did he just say! Did he figure it all out? Did he know she wasn't Mina?

"You pretended to be a small, diet conscious girl, who ate only small portions of food, to stay thin, but underneath that tiny body, you are a raging and starving hippo." He claimed smugly.

"What! What is that supposed to mean!" she shrieked.

"Just that you're a hippo in girl's clothing." He said arrogantly and chuckled at her.

"I am going hurt you, Shields!"

"Petrified. " He drawled.

Before he knew what was going on, Serena had lunged towards him, with her hands stretched out, she bunched up her hands in his hair, and starting yanking at it.

"Who, you calling a hippo? You, annoying chimp."

"Hey! Ouch, let go of my hair, you grizzly bear." He flinched and caught hold of her wrists, but he couldn't make her let go.

"Stop calling me fat! I'll crush, you albino bat"! Serena roared.

"Let go, woman." They struggled for a good 5 minutes, before Darien, literally got her out of his hair. Still holding her wrists he looked down at her, panting, her cheeks were flushed, she was still glaring at him, her rosy lips parted to throw another insult at him, she looked so adorable and sexy at the same time. Before he knew what he was doing, his head dipped and he crushed her lips in a passionate kiss.

Serena was shocked and her eyes widened, "Oh My God! He is kissing me!"

For the first few seconds Serena remained frozen from shock, but as the initially realization cleared, she timidly responded, slowly she kissed him back. Her eyes closed. When Darien felt her respond, that was all the encouragement he needed, he deepened the kiss. He bit her lower lip gently, and sucked it and to his amazement and pleasure, she mirrored his actions, his mind wreaked havoc, when he felt her sucking his lower lip. He felt his ego swell up, he knew she had had boyfriends before, but she seemed so naïve and inexperienced, when he kissed her, he kind of liked it. He enjoyed her innocence, he felt like he was the man giving her, her first kiss. This woman he concluded was an enigma.

Releasing her wrists, he moved his hands to wrap around her small waist and pull her closer to him, he felt her now free hands wrap around his neck, her fingers entwined themselves in his hair, he pulled her even closer. She was addictive, never in his life had he tasted lips so sweet, and he had tasted so many.

They kissed eachother with a hunger, that Serena had just read of in books, could this be real, she felt like she was in one of the fairytales, she had read as a girl where, she was a princess, he was her handsome prince, he had a royal carriage and they were sharing their first kiss. It was the perfect story she mused.

They finally broke the kiss resurfacing for much needed air. They breathed hard, as they slowly opened their eyes again, what had just been 15 minutes in the real world, felt like ages to the couple sitting in the car. Darien's eyes were hooded and dark, there was pin drop silence in the car, except for the sounds of their heavy breathing, but the desire in his eyes, was deafening to Serena. Never had she been desired before, infact never had she ever felt desire before but, that look in his eyes made her mouth run dry, she tentatively licked her lips, and his eyes flitted from hers to her lips and then back to look at her, they were smoldering now, his pupils had dilated to turn his eyes black, he growled, before he pulled her into another hungry kiss, this one was shorter, but its intensity was much more.

When he finally let her go, Serena was completely dazed, her mind had become thoughtless. As they broke the kiss and moved apart, Serena slowly dared to look in this stormy eyes again, she felt helpless, she knew she was already drowning in their depths, she wanted to drown in them, somewhere the dim voice of reason screamed in her head to be heard, for her to stop, but she felt something new light up inside her, her mind begged her to come back to reality, but she dint want to, she was feeling something today, that she had never felt before, all her life she had never been even noticed by anyone, and here was the most beautiful man in town, kissing her! Her brain knew she was being blind, she was going to fall hard, and flat, in the end, but her heart could only ask…could he be her prince?

Her eyes lowered to his lips when they parted, those lips that had just been on hers right now, kissing her so hungrily, he was saying something to her.

"Mina, I…..", he started huskily, but couldn't finish his sentence, when he saw her fogged eyes instantly clear up, those eyes that had mirrored his desire, grew wide and he saw the desire give way to, shock, and suddenly guilt? She wrenched herself out of his arms and straightened her dress. Darien was confused by the sudden change in demeanor, but what he dint understand was why he felt a little hurt as well. He was so exhausted by all these inexplicable things going on today, he promptly shut them out.

Serena couldn't believe what she had just done. She had kissed her sister's fiancé. The first man she had ever kissed was her sister's fiancé! Alright, her sister wouldn't care, she loved someone else, but even still he was _her_ fiancé, and above that, she was supposed to make Darien break this engagement, not make out with him! She had to get out of here right now and not waiting for a reply, she told him. "I should go," and she was already gone.

Darien watched her as she walked to her house, he noticed as she walked hurriedly towards her house, her feet carrying her quickly, it almost seemed like she hadn't sprained her ankle at all. Darien frowned. He had this feeling, like they were being watched he looked up to see something flit passed a window, all he had made out was a bright golden blur, it was gone so quickly that he could have put it up to his imagination. His eyes narrowed, his frown deepened, his eyes went back to the blonde entering the house, as she disappeared through the doors, he put the car in gear and drove off.

When Serena entered the sanctuary of her house, she ran, she bound up the stairs, taking two at a time and ran straight to her room, stopping at her door, panting. She swung the door open and entered and promptly, slammed it shut behind her, pressing her back up to the door, she shut her eyes and sighed, finally she was in the safety of her room, again.

"Things went well then, I take it?" Mina grinned at her, from her position on Serena's bed.

Serena's eyes shot open in surprise and rested on her sister, sprawled on her bed, her head propped up on an elbow. She was grinning excitedly. Instantly, Serena knew she had seen, what had transpired between Darien and her in the car, she felt ashamed and guilty.

"You have nothing to feel guilty about!" Mina told Serena, understanding the look in her sister's eyes.

"How can you be so understanding?" Serena asked her softly.

Mina sighed. "Sere, I never liked him to begin with, I love Andrew." She explained.

"But, I don't think I can do this, Mina, we are going to get into trouble, I almost got caught several times today." She knew that was only half the reason, she did not want to continue this charade, she knew this could land up being a multi-faceted fiasco in the end, that could back fire very badly in the end.

"Is that the only reason why, you don't want to do it?" Mina asked her knowingly.

"Yes!" Serena answered a little too harshly than necessary.

"Ok, then you don't have to." Mina, knew Serena's reaction, had spoken volumes about why she dint want to do this. Mina would be very selfish, if she forced Serena to go any further with this plan. She had to deal with this herself. Serena was naïve and fragile, she knew that there was a good chance Serena could fall for that twat, and even better chance that he could hurt her. Mina had protected Serena all her life, if she forced Serena to do this, her sister could be shattered.

"We will have to come up with something new." She said aloud, more to herself than to her sister.

Serena looked at her sister when she spoke, and for the first time in her life Serena saw the light in her sister's eyes was, missing.


	6. Retail Therapy

Retail Therapy.

Mina stood at her balcony and sighed into the cool night,for what seemed like the 100th time. She hadn't realized how stupid her plan really was, asking Serena to replace her, she had completely forgotten to consider, who Darien Shields was, and what affect he could have on her little sister. She had seen what had transpired between, Serena and Darien in the car, she had heard the car pull over and was surprised to see, that they returned so early! She couldn't tell what they were saying, but from what she could see, they had been speaking calmly for a while, then to Mina's great surprise, her calm and shy sister, was yanking his hair from its roots and all of a sudden they were kissing?

Serena had barely known Darien, and Mina was pretty sure he had not remembered, the nerdy girl from their engagement announcement, and here they already had tension between them. It was so obvious even from where she stood. She had never seen her sister react the way she did with that man, Serena had been with him only a few hours! She affected him and Mina knew that, this was the perfect way to get Darien off her back, but she couldn't hurt Serena. Serena was vulnerable, her sister could not fall for such a man, he would only give her hurt and pain in the end. She had protected Serena all her life, there had even been one or two creeps after her Sere and Mina had made sure, they couldn't hurt her. She would always protect her even if, it meant she had to give up her own life, for her sister, she would do it gladly. Serena had already lost her first kiss to this man, maybe at some level it was worth it cause Mina was sure it must have been one hell of an amazing kiss, she thought wryly, but on a serious note, Serena could lose no more to that man.

After making up her mind, Mina went in search of her sister, to tell her what she had decided. She looked in Serena's room and balcony, the room was empty, Mina knew where she would find her otherwise, she walked down to the den and found Serena on the sofa watching an Indian movie, with their old Indian nanny, Lakshmi.

Mina smiled, they had not noticed her come in. Lakshmi had brought Serena and her up since they were new borns, she was a family member to them. She had devoted her entire life to the Kingstons, she had been widowed a longtime ago, even before they were born, having no children of her own, she considered the two Kingston girls, her own. She taught them hindi, which they understood and spoke fluently by the time they were 6, told them hindi stories and brought home all the latest hindi movies to watch. The girls loved her and loved watching, the high on drama and generally nonsensical flicks.

Mina moved further into the room and took a seat next to Serena, pulling her legs below her and grabbing a cushion off the couch and placing it on her chest.

"What are we watching?" She asked, as her eyes too, got glued to the screen and took on a trance-like glaze, like the other two occupants of the room.

"Jaani Dushman." Serena said slowly. It translated to mortal enemy.

"Woah, what's it about?" Mina asked seriously.

"So far, there is a snake couple, that was dancing on a hut in some ancient times, and the hut broke, and this hermit guy, was like meditating inside since ages, and cause they disturbed him, he cursed the female snake person, he said she will die, once the sun sets. They begged him for forgiveness, they like kept banging their heads on stones and kept saying sorry, so this guy, he felt bad and all, so he said, he couldn't take the curse back, but she would be born again and snake man would find her again. So he gets buried into a tree and stuff and after some 1000 years she is reborn, and she awakens him from the tree, but she is like a normal human and she gets raped and killed."

"That's intense, then?" Mina asked, interestedly.

"Then, her spirit asks the snake man, who can shape shift in any form, to avenge her. So, he is avenging her by killing all the people who she thinks got her killed. But! Only two of them were guilty, the rest are innocent."

"Oh My God!"

"Yeah."

The sisters fell into silence. Their eyes wide, glued to the screen. Mina's phone beeped, indicating she had received a message. She opened it and her eyes widened.

"Rena?"

"Yeah?"

"Darien, wants to meet, tomorrow." She whispered, so that Lakshmi wouldn't hear them.

"Already?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, I am not going to make you go, you're out of this, I'll deal with it."

"No, Mina, it isn't that simple anymore."

"What do you mean?" Mina frowned

"Well today was a weird day, he commented on my hair and stuff, I acted all odd and we fought and then we kis…I mean if you go now and be all normal he will definitely be on to us."

"Serena he is my fiancé, you know, I have to face him, I mean it's going to be odd, if I run from him too. But you are right too, Oh my God, we are done for! Mina exclaimed, her eyes widening with nervousness. "What are we going to do!"

Serena motioned Mina to follow her, they couldn't speak here. They quietly got off their seats and left. Their nanny didn't even notice, her eyes still glued to the screen.

Once, in the confines of Serena's room, Serena turned and looked at Mina.

"Look, till we don't know what to do, we need to avoid him."

"Yeah, Alright that sounds reasonable enough, but that's only a temporary solution. We can't avoid him for long and specially, after that earth shaking kiss you two shared " Mina replied simply.

"Mina!" Serena blushed profusely.

"Oh come on, it was just a kiss, and you enjoyed it too, don't lie, I saw you, remember?" Mina teased.

"Can you stop that." Serena couldn't help but smile, blushing harder yet. "Let's first deal with the problem at hand?"

"Ok, I'll call and cancel for tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Serena, watched as Mina finished messaging. Once done she looked up "Done, I told him I have plans with my sister." She beamed proudly. Her phone beeped back and she saw Mina's eyes widen.

"He is saying I should bring my sister along too, it's high time he wants to get to know his sister in law."

"Fuck!"

Mina's eyes widened even more at Serena's words.

"Don't just stand there widening your eyes like E.T., tell him something." Serena ordered. She watched her sister swiftly type in another excuse and within seconds get another message.

"I told him, we are going to the mall for shopping and he won't enjoy it and all, it is a girl thing, so he said ok, no problem."

They both blew out a breath of relief. Mina gave Serena a toothy smile.

"What?" Serena asked suspiciously.

"Well, it's not a bad idea though, to go shopping."

"No way, I am not going to give you the pleasure of making me your doll, when you play dress up!"

"Oh come on, you secretly like it, you just don't want to accept it." Mina persuaded.

"No, I don't." Serena replied simply.

" Ok, then I'll just have to tell Drew, you didn't want to come." Mina said with mock sadness.

"Really? Drew's coming?"

"Yes, he is, he would never say no, when he knows your coming."

"Hmmm."Serena replied "I'll think about it."

Mina grinned, she knew Serena would definitely come if Drew was in, Serena loved Andrew, they were extremely close since Mina first introduced them. Whenever all three of them went out, Drew would always give her special attention, he lived her as much as Mina did, he would treat her to ice cream and tell her funny stories and make her laugh. That's probably one of the reasons Mina had fallen for him, he was such a great friend to Serena. Her only friend other than Mina.

"Anyway, I am going to bed now, try to get some rest, tomorrow's going to be a long day" Mina declared, before she kissed Serena on the cheek and left.

Mina was right, Serena told herself, today had been a long and gruelling day, she needed to rest, and forget about the tall, dark and dangerous man, she had met today. She did not want to think anymore, and as if on queue, Serena fell asleep, as soon as her head hit the bed.

And so she didn't have to think about the handsome man anymore, she dreamt of him, she smiled in her sleep, when he kissed her again in her dreams.

Back at the Shields mansions things were much different, Darien was wide awake, he sat in his study and tried to concentrate on his work. He frowned, when he couldn't seem to get the Golden Siren, out of his mind! He had asked her to go out with him again and she had declined him! That, had never happened before, women would jump at the opportunity to go out with him, and this was the first time someone had said no! She wanted to go shopping with her sister instead, after the intense kiss, they had shared, she, wanted to go out shopping with her sister! Did the passion between them, not have the same affect on her too? And then, there were other things, like when she walked back home, she dint seem like she had hurt her leg at all, but maybe he was making a big deal about that, she had asked him to let her walk on her own, he had carried her, so maybe...hell now he was defending her too! He was losing his mind, he needed a drink, he told himself.

Darien got up, and walked to the bar in his study and poured himself a whisky, he swirled the liquid before gulping it in one shot, then poured another. He needed to calm his mind, he needed to get his peace back, he needed answers to all the contradicting thoughts in his mind. He knew the answers all lay with HIS fiancé. All he needed to do now, was see HER. AGAIN. With that promise, he finished his drink and left to get some night's sleep, he wouldn't call it, good, though. He knew, when he would shut his eyes, she would visit him again, in his dreams.

Serena stood in the bookstore of the mall they were at. Mina and Andrew had gone to pick up some coffee, so Serena had decided to take that time to buy a new book. She needed a new book desperately, to get her mind off certain _**things.**_

She had been browsing several aisles, and had made her way deep inside the huge bookstore, she moved from one section to the other, running her hands on the spines of each book, as she went. She finally reached the fiction section and started browsing through, finally she found what she was searching for, she giggled to herself in glee.

"There you are." She said as she picked up a book from the shelf. Holding it up like a carefully, like one would hold a prized diamond.

"And the Mountains Echoed." She read to herself, softly. It's sad she thought, that her favorite author writes 1 book every 7 years, it wasn't fair. She would read and reread his books, till a new one would come along. But she would never bore of them, Khaled Hosseini, knew how to weave emotions into a book, like embroidery on cloth. Serena was probably one of his greatest fans. She would constantly do research about him and stay in touch with his activities on the internet. She was just going to open the book, to read through the first page, when she felt her instinct sense danger, or more like something dangerous.

Suddenly a flash of familiar black passed her peripheral view, she looked up to see, where had it come from, her eyes widened. Darien was standing several shelves away from her, facing in her direction, with his head down, he was checking out some books himself. Oh darn it. He hadn't seen her yet though, luckily for her, only her eyes and head reached a little above the shelf, Darien on the other hand stood way way above them, standing out clearly, in the humble interiors of the bookstore.

Feeling eyes watching him, Darien looked up instinctively, just when Serena ducked, he thought he saw a golden head bob down. He frowned.

"Mina?" He whispered. As he cautiously started moving in the direction.

"Shit." Serena muttered, softly. Now what, she thought, well obviously she had to get out of here, but how. Serena sneaked another look.

"Oh God." Serena moaned, he is coming this way, need to get out of here. Now!  
>She hunched down low, and started making a quick and stealthy, beeline for the exit. Serena was almost out the door, when someone rammed into her and dropped the book she dint realize she had been clutching to her chest.<p>

"Hey! Watch it, blondie!" The man she bumped into, told her loudly.

Without looking behind Serena ran out in full sprint. She heard the man calling out from behind her, but she didn't stop to listen to him. Stopping only when she reached the designer store, she was to meet Mina at.

Back at the store, Darien was standing confused, looking at the spot, he thought he had seen Serena at. Oh, so now, I am starting to imagine her in places. Well, that's just great isn't it? Now I need to see shrink, isn't that just brilliant now.

He heard a commotion, near the entrance of the bookstore. He didn't pay attention to what the man said, only the word, blondie, made him look up , he only saw a blur of golden rush out of the store.

"Hey Blondie, you dropped your book!" The man shouted behind her." But she was already long gone.

Darien watched the man place the book on a nearby table and walk away. After the man had left, he walked up to the table to have a look.

"And the Mountains Echoed." he whispered, as his fingers ran across the embossed title on the book, his eyes went back to the door.

"Blondie."

At the store with Mina, Serena had just been forced into buying her 5th dress, they were all bold and elegant, Serena accepted, but forced buys. Mina was now shoving Serena into the dressing room once again, she had shoved another dress in Serena's hands and was pestering her to put it on.

"But Mina, I already bought 5!"

"So?"

"So I am not trying this on!"

"Put it on, or I'll put it on for you, right here."

Defeated, Serena sighed and went in to change.

"That's like a good girl." Mina chimed.

Serena came out, in a short, floral skater dress. It was sleeveless and held in place by sheer tightness at the bust, automatically giving a generous view of her creamy breasts. It clung to her tiny waist and the short skirt flared around her upper thighs.

"This is just too much!" Serena exclaimed. "I can't wear, this! Infact, that's the irony, cause I am not wearing anything anyway!" Serena complained.

"Ohhhhh just stop with the drama, you look sexyyyy." Mina replied animatedly. "Doesn't she, Drew?" She asked him, sternly.

"Y-yeah, she does, you do, Serena." He replied, giving Serena an apologetic look.

"Drew, can you go settle the bill, with Serena, I am going to try on, another dress." She told them sternly, making it known, they weren't allowed to whine, if she shopped further.

"I am going to get changed first." Serena moved to go inside the room to change, but before she knew it, her sister had gone inside and locked it.

"Mina!" Serena shouted.

No, you are wearing that." She answered from the other side. "I'll get your rags, with me, when I get out."

Serena sighed and looked at Drew, he laughed and held out his hand for her, she put her hand through his waiting one, together they walked to the payment counter.

"So... I heard about Shields and you, pretty intense."

"Drew!" Serena blushed.

Drew got done paying and started picking up their bags. Serena tried taking a few bags from him.

"No sweety, let me do it, their heavy."

"Yeah sweety, let him." Drew and Serena whipped around at the sound of the cold voice behind them, their arms still linked.

Darien's eyes went slowly from their linked hands, to their shocked faces. His eyes so calm, it was clear there was a storm moving inside his head.

"How's shopping going with, Serena?" He taunted. His voice so calm, it made Serena shiver. She had heard him say her name for the first time, she thought, it sparked something inside her and made her feel warm, before she could put a finger on what it was, she pushed it back and scolded herself. There are more pressing issues to deal with here! How are we ever going to get out of this one.

"Darien, it isn't what you think." Serena said urgently, she didn't like the fact, that she cared so much about what he thought. She probably cared so much, because she didn't want them to get caught, she reasoned with herself, that made sense.

"And, what isn't that I think, sweetheart?" His sweet tone was laced with barely concealed contempt. His eyes now looked straight at her. She felt like they were looking right through to her soul. Her breathe hitched in her throat, her mouth ran dry, she licked her lips. She watched as his eyes, followed the motion of her tongue, darkening from blue to black. She had seen them turn to black before, when he had been kissing her. This was not the same though, what she was looking at right now, was barely concealed fury, and something else, she felt confused, was it betrayal?

"Darien, this…." She couldn't finish her sentence, when Andrew jumped in to the rescue.

"Hi, I am Andrew, we have met before, at your engagement. I am Serena's boyfriend, actually." Serena looked at him, stunned, did he just say that. That sounded just wrong to her ears. Darien on the other hand, still looked suspiciously at him, if only a bit calmer.

"Are you….." he stated more than anything, still sounding like he didn't believe him.

"Yeah, she is in the changing room, right now" Andrew added, gesturing toward the row of trial rooms.

And as if on queue, Mina called out to Andrew to come see her dress. Andrew, smiled at Serena apologetically and quickly walked away from the awkward scene, rushing to tell Mina the situation at hand.

Darien and Serena watched Andrew's retreating form, till it vanished behind the racks of clothes.

"I am sorry I thought you lied to me." Darien looked at Serena sheepishly.

Serena looked at Darien surprised, he was apologizing now, this man was really something, just 10 seconds ago, he was smoking at the ears with fury and now he was saying sorry. He just couldn't be predicted, he was a man full of surprises.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him, still reeling from the entire scene.

"The same thing Serena and you were. Shopping." He said that and held up two bags, one being from the bookstore she couldn't see herself visiting for a longtime now and the other was from some fancy brand she dint recognize, but was sure must be costing a bomb. As her mind drifted to the current scenario at hand, she realized it would be awkward, if they just stood here and her sister and boyfriend, wouldn't emerge from the trial rooms, it would be best to get him out of here.

"So you want to go somewhere?" She asked him.

Darien raised a dark brow in surprise." I thought you wanted to spend the day with your sister."

"No it's ok." Serena said, getting anxious and trying desperately, to hide it.

"You, don't want to at least wait, till she comes out, to say bye?" He asked her, much too slowly for her liking."They should be out any minute, It has been a while since, Andrew went to check on her."

"Maybe, their messing around inside or something, I am super starved, can we go!" She asked desperately. Before Darien could react to that, Serena caught hold of his hand and yet again, dragged him out of the store. They walked out of the store, with Serena, half leading half dragging Darien. They walked aimlessly for 10 minutes around the mall, before Darien spoke,

"What you feel like eating?"

Serena halted and realized, she hadn't really thought about that, in her hurry to just get away from the store.

"I don't know, you got something on mind?" She asked him.

"Yeah I know a place." He replied and smiled at Serena, she rewarded him with a curious look.

"You'll just have to wait and see." He gave her a mysterious smile and took her hand that had still been holding his and tucked it in his and started leading the way. Serena followed in wonder.


	7. A Date with Rumi

I want to start off with really thanking everyone who liked and appreciated and reviewed my story, especially to**, ArmyGirlStrong, Moonprincess998**, lily, **EpicNinjaWorld, LoveInTheBattleField** and **devilsangels11287**,you people have really been great motivation for me, it's amazing how only a few good words take someone such a long way. I love hearing from you all, thank you.

A Date with Rumi.

Darien continued to smile mysteriously, he knew exactly where he was going to take her, he could feel her still watching him, he turned and gave her a grin and a wink. She frowned. He was very pleased with himself, right now. He had lied to her when she asked had him, what he was doing here, he hadn't been here by coincidence, contrary to his, he must admit, great acting at a casual attitude, it had been on purpose. He chuckled light heartedly. He felt her look at him again. He had been astonished at his own antics though today, he would never admit to anyone, but he had actually gone, browsing one store to the other looking for her, his eyes scanning for a shiny golden head, every time he saw a blonde his eyes would stop to see if it was _her_. He had finally found her 45 mins into his search, she had been standing with that blonde guy, her arm linked with his. He frowned even at the memory. He had been seething then. He had felt, cheated and betrayed, not only had she rejected him, but she had been out with another guy! Darien Shields, was not used to being rejected and definitely not by his own fiancée. He was almost ready to through a punch and break, the dumb guys nose, but it turned out, to be her sister's boyfriend. When, it turned out to be one big misunderstanding, he had felt a sense of great relief, he had led things to abrupt conclusions. Darien shook his head slightly, to erase the bad thoughts from his head. It turned out good right, she was going for lunch with him now and she hadn't figured he had stalked her, if she ever did though, the only thing she would had gone for, was a restraining order. When they reached his car and he ushered her in, then moved to his side of the car and got in.

Serena was watching, Darien intently, she saw so many emotions wash over his handsome face, he smiled, grinned, frowned and then he was, content? She was getting intrigued and creeped out all at once. She couldn't see his eyes properly from the angle she had, from walking beside him, but she knew his eyes must have been a myriad of emotions. They were as deep as the ocean itself, looking into them made her feel vulnerable, like he could see into her very essence, he could read her like an open book. The sound of a door shutting, and a car revving, brought her out of her chain of thought. She realized she was in a car. They were now on their way.

She looked up at him as he smoothly drove them away from the hustle and bustle of their town, he was still quiet, his eyes spoke for him.

When he felt her looking again, he turned and gave her a questioning look. Serena stared into the blue flames and felt compelled to answer him.

"There was something I read once, you just reminded me of it." She said softly.

"What is it, I remind you of?" He asked, his brows rising in surprise.

"When I am silent, there is a storm inside me." She said, huskily.

Darien's eyes widened. "Did you just quote, Rumi!?" he asked stunned. He looked at her were with incredulity, his eyes widened.

"Yes." Serena, blushed and giggled at his expression.

"Where are we going?" She asked him changing the topic.

"First, we are making a stop at this place, on the outskirts of town, then we have a short way to go from there." He replied.

"Alright." Serena answered, she was getting very curious.

As he had said, they made a stop at a small Italian restaurant in the outskirts, of town, Serena waited in the car till Darien went in and got out 2 large bags of take-aways. She looked at all the bags of food with intent, when she looked up, she saw Darien looking at her, his eyes twinkling with mirth and he was definitely going to tease her about this later. She narrowed her eyes at him momentarily and turned away looking out of her window.

He opened the boot and kept the food inside carefully, shutting it, he walked back and got in the car.

"You ready?" He asked Serena, who was still looking out the window, she turned around to see him smiling genuinely at her and she smiled back.

"Yes!" She said with a bright smile and a nod and with that they zoomed away.

The short way turned out to be a one and a half hour ride in the middle of nowhere. Serena looked out of her window, and realized that she hadn't seen a single house for over an hour. Civilization had cleared and gave way to a pristine and green landscape. There were vast grasslands, that spread as far as the human eye could see. Soon she looked on in childish awe, when grasslands gave way to hillocks, she had seen these hills from airplanes, when it flew from above them, they looked tiny and insignificant, now here they were, the very same hills, standing tall, proud and intimidating. They were covered in total greenery.

She watched as Darien easily took the car off the main road, and took them down an old dirt road, she looked ahead to see, it lead deeper into the hills. They followed the path for a while, till the car turned and they went a little way off the path. Darien, put the car in park and killed the engine.

"We, have reached. Come on." Before she could ask any more questions, Darien got out of the car and walked out to open the boot. He pulled out the food and blankets and started walking up a small dirt path made on the side of a hill.

Serena had followed Darien out of the car and watched him pull out the food from the boot and start walking up the hill.

"How am I going to climb the hill in these?" Serena asked Darien, he turned around to see, she was pointing her feet, which were encased in a pair of black pumps with high heels, which her sister had forced her to put on for the occasion today.

Darien chuckled. "Well, I could carry you, but you may not like that." He teased her.

Serena frowned and pouted. "Don't tease me now, what do I do."

"Well, just take them off." He stated simply.

"No. I would find that weird." She looked at him with puppy dog eyes.

"How does it matter, no one is here to see you." He replied, gently.

"But, yet…." She argued on.

He sighed and gave in. "Give me 5 minutes, wait here and don't go anywhere." He ordered her. Serena watched as he turned and walked up the hill, disappearing behind a bend up the hill. He came back a good 20 minutes later.

"You said 5 minutes and took 4 times, the time to get 's almost 3.30pm! " She stated irritated.

"Well, I am sorry, but it is a bit of a tough climb!" He told her, shrugging his shoulders. "Let's go come on, take your shoes off." He said.

Serena was about to protest, when she saw him slip off his clean, shiny formal shoes and then his socks. "What are you doing?" She asked amazed

"Well, since you felt awkward taking off your shoes, alone in this lonesome wilderness, I am going to accompany you, so you don't feel awkward around nothing."

Serena stared at him wide eyed. He had just been sarcastic with her, and at the same time he was chivalrous. It was probably a small gesture, but for her it was the first thing any guy had ever done for her. She was flattered.

"Come on take them off already, or do you want me to carry you?" He asked, taking a step forward to freak her out.

"No, I took them off, see?" Serena took them off quickly and started walking up the hill quickly. Darien's eyes followed her for a few seconds, before his steps did the same.

"So I see your foot, is doing just fine now." Darien tried making conversation, as they walked up.

"Ummm, yeah that, it's fine now, thank you." She stuttered.

Serena followed the dirt path and turned with the bend in the path, where she had seen Darien vanish, a while back when he was carrying their food, they walked a few more minutes, and then Serena stopped dead in her tracks. A little away from the edge of the hill, in front of her lay a picnic blanket spread out, with the most amazing looking food. She saw twos of everything, there were two plates of pasta, two 9 inch pizzas, two plates of garlic bread, two hearty slices of apple pie and three chocolate milkshakes. But that wasn't what made her breathe hitch, it was the view from where they stood. You could see the entire town of Merryland in the far distance, surrounded by hills on every side, Serena had never seen something this amazing. But it wasn't the place or the view that took her breathe away, it was the man standing beside her. She was falling in love and she didn't know, if she couldn't or wouldn't do anything about it.

Serena turned around and looked at Darien, she was in awe. He grinned boyishly and replied "Last time you ordered two milkshakes."

Serena smiled at him. "You remembered." She whispered.

"You're wrong, I never forget." He replied huskily and smiled. "Let's eat then." He suggested.

"Oh yes! Let's." Serena quickly took her place opposite Darien and he watched in astonishment, when the angel that sat in front of him transformed into a hungry bear. He chuckled to himself and dug into his share of the food.

Soon they both were engrossed in finishing their meal and no one spoke or looked up. They both ate in comfortable silence. Once they were done eating, they turned around and watched the view below them. Serena leaned back and rested casually on her elbows and Darien lay on his side, resting one elbow on the grass and supporting his head in his palm.

"It's so beautiful here, how did you find this place?" She asked him.

" My uncle used to bring me up here for picnics, when I was a kid, now I come here by myself, when I am too tired or stressed out of life. I come here to find peace." Darien suddenly confessed.

Serena looked at him. "To find peace? You don't come across as someone who is seeking something to me." She told him honestly.

"We all are seeking something, Mina, wealth, fame, fortune,…peace." He said to her matter-of-factly.

Serena smiled a very mysterious and amused smile, she turned to look at him.

"What's s amusing?" He questioned. "Is it something I said?

"Yes and no. You never found your peace, Darien, because you are looking in all the wrong places!" She said understandingly.

She had Darien's unwavering attention on that statement. "And, you know where to find it?" Darien asked her, stunned. She sounded like it was the most obvious answer in the world!

"I have only two things to say to you." She replied amused.

"What?" Darien asked incredulously.

"What you seek, is seeking you, Darien." She replied, like that was the most obvious thing on the planet.

"Which is the second?" he asked, a little taken back.

"There is enough light, for he who wants to see." She answered him, simply.

Darien was shell shocked to say the least. He just stared at her, his mouth open. There she had quoted Rumi once again, he didn't know the origins of the 2nd quote though. Darien had almost considered himself a well-read man. He had read plenty of books, and suddenly he felt that she was more well-read than him! But this woman was amazing. He had never met a woman who would quote Rumi to him. She was incredible. She had just summed up his problem in 2 sentences. He had felt it was the toughest answer in the world and yet he found it in the simplest place. After all these years of looking for it in work, books and solitude, he realized he had to find it inside! The toughest questions had the simplest answers. It made total sense, if he was at peace everything else would be too! He looked at her. She lay a few feet away from him and stared right back at him, with her piercing, clear cerulean eyes. Darien needed to know more about this girl.

"Darien, are you still in there?" Serena asked jokingly.

"Huh, oh sorry." He murmured, clearing his head.

"You zoned out for a bit there." She giggled.

"What are you doing this Saturday?" Darien asked out of the blue, catching her off guard.

"I don't know it's a couple of days away, so have no plans yet." Serena thought out loud.

"Well, that is great then, will you go out for dinner with me?" Darien proposed.

Serena's eyes widened in shock, boy this was going fast, he wanted to meet her again?

"I…don't….know." Serena slowly replied, no excuse popped up in her head on such a short notice.

"Are you rejecting me again?" Darien asked Serena, with mock hurt in his navy blue orbs, he pouted a little and gave her his most adorable look.

Who was she kidding, how would she ever resist that look. "Sure why not." She replied smiling ruefully at him.

Darien smiled a victorious smile when she agreed. Her heart fluttered in her chest. Darien stood up from the spot he had just been occupying and walked around the spot to sit next to Serena. She watched him walk round and take a seat next to her.

"Are you ready, to watch the most amazing sunset of your life?"

"What?" Serena asked surprised.

"Look." Darien merely pointed in the direction of the city.

Serena sat up from her half lying down position to look at what he was talking about, when she looked at where his finger was pointing, she gasped. The sun was just starting to set behind the hills and the sky had turned hues of purple, pink and yellow. She watched in awe as the sun slowly set behind the hills, only peaking half way at them. At this moment her life was perfect, she had an amazing man sitting beside her and the most beautiful sight in the world in front of her. If she died right now, she would have died in peace.

"So Saturday, be ready at 8, I'll pick you up." Darien spoke from beside her, Serena turned to look at him.

"Where are we going?" Serena asked him excitedly.

"You really want to know?" Darien asked.

"Yeah?" She replied not so sure if she wanted to know anymore.

"To the zoo!" He exclaimed.

"To the zoo? Why?"

"Didn't you know, there's a 1000 pound prize, for the person who brings back their runaway hippo!" He said with a fake matter-of-fact tone and then starting chuckling to himself heartily.

"Did you call me hippo, again!?" Serena asked as irritation set in, right now he was being the nicest guy in the world and now he was being a stuck up jerk again!

"Youuuuuu, I am going to kill you Shields!" Serena answered seething.

"Oh, here comes Africa's most notorious killer!" He said in mock fear. "Oh, I am scared, save me!" He mocked her even more. He loved getting a rise out of her, he realized, it

Without warning Serena lunged at Darien, she landed on his lap and fisted her hands in his hair and started yanking it.

"Ouch, that hurts, let go, you wild cat!" Darien struggled to get Serena to let go of his hair, but he couldn't tug her hands, because that landed up making her pull his hair further.

"You apologize right now! You say I am the prettiest girl in the world." Serena threatened him , yanking his hair a little for effect.

"Ha, never!" Darien refused. "I am never going to give in to your ludicrous demands!" He mocked her.

As a reply, Serena started yanking his hair even more, eliciting groans from her victim.

Darien was in agony right now, but he was enjoying tormenting the blonde on top of him even more, the pain was worth it.

Suddenly Darien started gagging and coughing violently and gasping for air like he couldn't breathe. Serena immediately let go of his hair and looked at him with concern in her eyes.

"Darien, Darien are you ok, what's wrong!" Serena asked him in a scared voice, there was concern etched all over his face. Oh my God she thought, had she really hurt him.

"Nothing, it's just that, I can't breathe, with you on top of me, you're just so heavy." Darien fake choked.

"You jerk! Fine then!" She made to get off him, when Darien suddenly caught hold of her and swung her easily off him onto the ground. Serena lay partially below him now, he caged her below him with one hand on her side and the solid wall of his body on the other.

"Go away, you jerk." Serena told him in an annoyed voice.

Darien looked down at her, his dark hair falling into his eyes, she looked so adorable lying there, pouting unknowingly. Darien's eyes softened and he looked at her and pouted.

"Sorry, sweetheart, but it's amazing teasing you."

"It was such a beautiful day, you ruined it, you know !" She complained like a child.

"I can fix it for you." He told her mischievously. His eyes twinkled merrily. As soon as the words had left his lips, he started tickling her relentlessly. Serena broke into uncontrollable bouts of laughter and rolled and struggled to break free. She laughed till her stomach cramped up and she could not breathe. He would give her 5 seconds for a breather occasionally and then renew his onslaught.

"Stop! Stop!" She gasped, she gasped between bouts of laughter.

"No. I won't stop till you say I am the best and most awesome man in the world!"

"What!" Serena gasped, tears rolling down her eyes, her breathe coming out in gasps and her voice had gone hoarse. "Never!" She barely moaned.

"What did you say!" Darien started tickling Serena even harder and she laughed and writhed under him.

When she couldn't take it anymore, she threw her hands up and wheezed. "Fine…. you are….. th…bes… an….mos awesome… man… in….. the…. worl!"She managed between gasps. When she finished Serena rolled her eyes and Darien finally stopped his tickling. She breathed in large gulps of air and tried to get her heartbeat back to normal. When she finally got some semblance over herself she looked up, it had been a mistake to look up, her heart rate immediately picked up again. Darien had been looming right above Serena and watching her pull herself together again, he watched as she had been heaving her chest, taking in large gulps of air, the generous view of her breasts from her cleavage drove him crazy, has her chest rose and fell with each breathe. His eyes had moved to her face, which was flushed red and the flush ran right down to her creamy chest. Her eyes were bright and watery and her long hair was spread all around her in a golden halo. She was stunning.

Watching him watching her so intently made her lick her lips in anticipation. His eyes instantly darkened. He muttered an expletive under his breathe, before he swiftly bent down his head, to catch her lips in a soul-searing kiss.

Serena's senses came alive, when his lips touched hers, her mind faded away, as her heart took over. She kissed him back with all the passion she felt inside her. Her hands slithered around his neck and pulled him closer to her, eliciting a moan from Darien. He probed her lips with his tongue and she willingly, obliged, parting her lips from him. That's all the encouragement Darien needed to plunder her mouth with his tongue. She timidly responded to his bold and confident ministrations with her own timid and shy ones. He let out a low growl in his throat with pleasure when he felt her respond.

His mouth moved from kissing her lips, to placing a trail of wet kisses down her jaw line and slowly moved down her neck, Serena moaned loudly and arched her head up, giving him better access to her neck, taking her motion as encouragement, he started kissing, sucking and biting her neck, Serena writhed under ministrations and let out a series of low moans.

"Darien….." She moaned.

Hearing his name coming from her lips Darien felt something warm creep in his chest and if it was possible, his rock hard member hardened even more. A growl rumbled in his throat, as he continued to kiss and bite the soft sensitive flesh of her neck. Slowly, he started working his way down to her collar bone, leaving a trail of kisses as he went, he adjusted himself to now lie on top of her, completely covering her petite form. His head loomed dangerously close to her breasts. She could feel his breathe fanning the skin of her breasts that was exposed above her tight bodice. He looked up at her then, his gaze held hers, arrested by the pure intensity she saw in them. She couldn't look away, even if her life depended on it. He balanced his weight on one arm, so he wouldn't crush her and moved the other to her face, his fingers languidly traced a line from her cheeks, to her jaw, down to her neck and ever so slowly, to her breasts. Serena let out a gasp, he was still watching her, his eyes watching her every reaction, he slowly moved up with the grace of a predator, the predatory look in his eyes matched his motions. He came up and captured her lips again in a hungry kiss, as his hand slowly started caressing the fabric that cover her breast. Serena's eyes widened, she gasped into the kiss and wrapped her legs around Darien's waist, bring her warm core in contact with his hardened penis. Darien growled into her mouth.

Never in his life had he been addicted to any drug as he was to this Golden Goddess lying below him. She excited him in every way, mentally and physically. He seemingly couldn't get enough of her. He felt her hands, starting to wander his body hesitantly at first, but slowly they became more bold, exploring his shoulders, arms, chest, stomach. She momentarily moved her hands off him and suddenly he felt her cool palms slip beneath his shirt, Lord did she plan to kill him! He felt her hands move around him waist and hug him closer to her. He couldn't help but moan, when his erection was pressed harder into her soft body.

"Mina I….." He dint get time to finish, he felt her abruptly remove her hands from his clothes and unwrap herself from him, he opened his eyes and in the dimming daylight, he could actually see her once passion fogged blue eyes, clear up and turn their normal shade of blue. She moved her palms to his chest and pushed him off. He moved off her. She sat up and straightened her dress, which had hiked up her legs up to her waist. Darien watched in stunned silence as she fixed herself as best as she could and quickly moved a good distance away from him. She refused to look his way and kept looking everywhere but at him. Darien was perplexed, what had he done, had he hurt her, did he scare her, what had he done!

"Mina, can you look at me?"

"We should go home now, it's getting late." She sounded like she was talking to no one in particular.

"Can you please look at me?" Darien pleaded her.

Ignoring him, Serena went ahead and started clearing up their plates and glasses. Once she was done clearing up everything. She got up with the bags and started walking back to path. Darien quietly walked behind her, he did not know what came over her. Was it something he did? Was it just in her head? He had no clue what was going on!. He needed to know what had gone wrong. He would fix it! He would fix anything for her!

When they had reached down, Darien took the bags from Serena and quietly put them in the boot. He watched her walk to her side of the car and get in, soon he followed suit. Once in the warm interiors of the car, he turned around and looked at her. She was looking out of the window, her hair blocked her face from his sight.

"Look at me." He commanded.

She didn't obey immediately, but slowly she did turn her head around.

Darien gently cupped her chin and tilted her head up, so that she was forced to look him in the eye. When she did look into his eyes again, he saw an emotional turmoil in them, but the only emotion that caught his attention, was guilt. Why did she have a reason to be guilty, he wondered.

"What happened, sweetheart, was it me? Did I hurt you?" he asked her so gently, it broke Serena's heart.

"No." Her voice cracked "It's not you it's me." A lone tear slid down her eye.

Darien carefully wiped it away. Serena's heart shattered. The man she had met today, was the most amazing man in the world, she had concluded and he deserved so much better than what she was giving him! He did not deserve this! He did not deserve her! She had been lying to him all this time and she was not a liar. How stupid was she, did she think that a man like him would ever fall for some like her! Who was she fooling, he would never love her. The only reason he was even talking to her was because he thought she was Mina. What was she thinking kissing him like there's no tomorrow. She was just a character in this charade, the scape-goat, she was the one who had to get Darien to end the engagement. She had to get him let Mina go! That did not include her making out with him, which would only get matters more complicated. She could not afford the novelty to feel, if she would end up developing feelings for Darien, she would be shattered in the end, she knew he would hate her, if he ever found out the truth about her. She had to be strong, if not for her sake then for Darien, she wouldn't hurt him, he didn't deserve it.

"I am just tired, that's all, can we please go home?" Serena begged him.

Darien's eyes dimming with defeat was almost her undoing. She could not stand to watch him hurt. She would rather see him angry, but not sad. It broke her.

Darien turned on the ignition and drove off. He didn't know what had happened, one minute they were making out like there was no tomorrow, the other minute she was running away from him! What had gone wrong, this was just like yesterday, when she ran off, after she was kissing him with so much passion, she hadn't even said goodbye, just ran away. He needed answers!

The rest of the car ride passed in awkward silence, Serena was constantly looking out the window, refusing to look his way. When he dropped her, she thanked him for the lovely day and got out. He watched her as she walked towards her house. Her shoulders were drooped and her head hung low in shame. She walked up the stairs to her main door slowly and entered.

When she had finally vanished inside the house, he turned the key in the ignition and revved his car, his eyes went up to the window he had seen the blonde head flash by the last time he was here. He stared at it for a few seconds. A lot of weird things had been happening off late. Mina herself had been acting very off of late. He realized ever since she was around him, he had kept pushing all the weird happenings to the back of his head and focusing on her. He had been ignoring his instincts all this time. He had been acting very unlike himself when she was with him, she brought out a very different part of him, the one he thought he had killed. Darien's eyes went back to the road, his blue eyes hardening with determination, Mina had run away twice from him without warning, under odd circumstances. She would runaway leaving in her wake several questions that now needed answers. Things had been out of control lately, but not anymore, he wouldn't allow it.

He knew that something was up and now, he was hell bent on finding out what it was. He knew he wouldn't rest till he found out. And as for his lovely fiancée, he would not let her get away from him so easily the next time. He put the car into drive with a little too much unnecessary force.

"What are you hiding, Mina? " He whispered under his breathe and zoomed off into the night.


	8. the Calm Before

**The Calm before…**

Serena sighed in relief when she entered her home. All she wanted to do was go to her room and fall asleep. She just didn't want to think anymore, she just needed to rest. As Serena started making her way to her room, a familiar voice stopped her. Serena froze.

"Where have you been, Serena?" Irene asked her daughter.

Serena turned around slowly to face her mother. She looked into her mother's eyes and felt like she was staring right back into her own. Serena went numb. She couldn't think up a plausible excuse, she could give her mother. Serena felt even more tired now, she couldn't do this right now.

"Mom, please not now." She answered her mother and started to walk upstairs to her room. She thought she had almost gotten away. Almost.

"That is not the answer to my question, my dear." Her mother started simply.

"Mom, I am just tired, can we talk about this tomorrow?" Serena pleaded.

"No, we cannot." Irene answered back with finality.

"Fine mom, what do you want to know?"

"I want to know what you were doing with your sister's fiancé." She asked her getting right to the point. Irene saw a number of emotions flit passed her daughter's eyes, a few of them being shock, guilt and shame. Irene knew her daughters well and now she knew her daughters were up to no good again. They had always been childish at heart and Irene knew there was nothing wrong with that. But right now there was something very wrong going on behind her back, she could feel it.

"Nothing mom, he just wanted help in finding a good gift for Mina." Serena lied through her teeth.

"Oh, what did you guys decide then?" Irene asked not buying her blatant lie for a second.

Serena stayed silent. Her head bowed down in shame. She wasn't a liar and she had never lied to her mother before.

"Fine, let's say if you are telling the truth for just a second, then tell me, what were you doing with him yesterday? Serena's head shot up in shock, her eyes wide, looked right back into her mother's.

"You knew?" She whispered.

"''I could tell the difference between the two of you from a mile away." She answered simply, giving her daughter a smile, to let her see she wasn't angry with her and encourage her to tell her the truth. "You can try to dress like Mina, but your my daughter I will always recognize you."

Serena looked at her mother guiltily.

"Now, tell me darling, what is really going on." Irene probed her daughter gently.

"Oh, mom." Serena finally gave in, she didn't want to lie anymore, she wanted it all to end. She wouldn't lie to her mother, she needed to know, Serena needed her mother to know, she felt vulnerable right now and feeling her mother's support would give her some security, some strength. Serena cried then and told her mom everything, except the part about the furious making out, instead she made that into just a kiss.

Irene's eyes widened in shock, as her daughter went ahead and told her everything. By the time she was finished Irene's eyes were almost bulging out of her sockets and her mouth hung open.

"Yeah and that is what happened more or less." Serena finished feeling like a huge burden had just lifted itself off her shoulders. Suddenly she felt like she could breathe again.

"Come with me, Serena." Irene gently beckoned her daughter, to follow her. Serena followed her mother obediently. Irene had lead, Serena into her father's study and locked the door shut, behind them. Irene sat on the large couch by the window and motioned for Serena to sit next to her. Serena complied.

"Mina hasn't always been the brightest pea in the pod, Sere." Her mother began, "and she hasn't always made the best decisions in the world. If Mina, needed to break this engagement, she could just tell Darien the truth and I am sure he would do it." Serena thought about what her mother said and knew she was right. Suddenly she felt so foolish. Seemingly reading her thoughts, her mother replied.

"It's not your fault, Sere, you wanted to help your sister, you two have always been really close and Mina has always protected you, so you felt it was your turn to protect her. But darling, now instead of one of you, both of you are in deep trouble."

"Oh, mom, I am so sorry, you're completely right. But what am I going to do." Serena cried.

"Tell the truth, Darien's a good boy, he will understand. After all he agreed to get married to Mina, just to help out your father." She finished.

"Help dad? Why does dad need any help?" Serena asked in confusion.

"We haven't told you two this, but your father has been having a few financial issues in the past. When Edmund found out he proposed to help, by merging their company with ours , as you know their company and name is far larger than ours and will bring back stability and help raise the shares of our company once again."

"But how did the engagement part fit into this?" Serena asked.

"The reason we decided to get Mina married to him, was because that would just not make the reason for the merger obvious and we also felt in the long run, Mina would learn to love Darien and live a happy and comfortable life with him."

"Oh my God! Mom you should have told us."

"Now look here Sere, your father doesn't know I have told you this, he would be very furious and as for Mina, she doesn't need to know this, I will tell her myself, in time." Her mother finished kindly, but being firm at the same time.

"Alright, mom your right, I am going to tell Darien the truth, it may anger him and he may hate me for it, but in time I know he will understand and will probably, forgive me." Serena finished with determination in her voice. She did not want Darien to hate her, in fact she wanted it to be the opposite of that. But there was little that could be done about this now.

"I suggest you tell him soon, sweetheart, before he finds out for himself." Irene warned her.

"I'll tell him on Saturday, at dinner." She promised sincerely.

Serena retired to her room, after having the chat with her mother. She was feeling much better, after confessing everything to her. She hadn't gotten a chance to tell her sister about the entire talk with her mother. But Serena decided to keep it to herself anyway, she decided to tell Darien the truth and she knew he would be angry at first, but he would find it in himself to forgive her, eventually. He would let Mina go, though, she was sure of that. He would never force her to be in this if she wasn't happy.

"I'll tell him everything." She whispered to herself, before she fell into a peaceful sleep.

Unbeknownst to her, it was already too late.

On the other side of town Darien sat in his study. He had been recounting the day's events. The day had been going really well, everything was great, until Mina had this sudden fit. Darien had felt there was something wrong when he had first met her at the bottom of the staircase yesterday. But he had pushed all his instincts behind and focused only on her, he realized when he was around her, he couldn't think straight. He would do things he would normally never do. The woman was gorgeous, she was intelligent, she was mysterious and she had the most beautiful and expressive eyes. Those eyes, they could see through his soul. She had the ability to make him forget about everything else, except her.

When he had first met her, she had seemed so shallow. She was always into the kind of stuff normal girls were into; shopping, designers, parties and all that jazz. He had never cared for that sort of stuff much, but now she was like this whole other person. She was so deep, so wise and so naïve, it was as if she was another person altogether.

Darien's eyes glinted with realization. Was that even possible! How hadn't he seen this before! Could it be possible? It had been glaring into his face all this time, had he not been so taken in by her, he may have noticed it earlier.

He got up and walked quickly to the den of his house and opened a large glass cupboard, the cupboard was full of dvds and discs. He shuffled through them for a few minutes and finally found the one he was looking for, he walked to the dvd player and slid it in, switching it on and then moving to switch on the tv. He pressed play.

Darien watched the pictures that had been taken on the day his engagement was announced, to Mina. He impatiently scanned through the pictures for a familiar face. He saw several pictures of Mina and him, meeting several influential people, who were all congratulating them. He furiously flipped through pictures, when finally he found the one he was searching for, he finally found _**her**_.

The picture focused on Darien and Mina, who had been at the time thanking the mayor for coming to wish them best of luck, for their engagement. _**She **_stood a little distance from them, she wasn't standing facing the camera entirely, but one could clearly see her side profile and Darien knew it was Her, he could recognize her anywhere! Her trademark platinum blonde hair was done in a waterfall braid. She was wearing an off white gown and from the looks of it she was talking to a man and laughing shyly. The man in question, looked much too pleased with himself, as could be seen in the picture.

Darien was livid. Here he was thinking that he had finally found someone, who he could spend the rest of his life with, to realize he was being made a fool of, again! He couldn't believe it, he had ignored all his instincts and gone ahead and trusted his heart. For the second time in his life, he had loved someone and it had blown up in his face, again. He flung the remote he held in his hand at the wall. He was shaking with barely controlled fury. He had fallen in love, with the wrong woman for the second time in his life. Why did he have an affinity towards the wrong women? He had fallen for her in just two meetings, she must have been laughing her pretty little head off, telling her sister what a fool she made of him! His eyes darkened dangerously, as he looked at the laughing blonde in the picture on the screen, he made a promise to himself, to exact his revenge from her. She had hurt him, made a mockery of him and he would make her pay for it.

"Let the game begin, Serena my love." He spoke to the woman on the screen, his demeanor hardening, his lips tugged upwards into a smile and his eyes glinted dangerously.

He pulled out his phone from his pants and dialed a number.

"Hello, it's me."

….

Serena woke up on Saturday morning to a knock on her door.

"Come in." She beckoned.

A maid opened the door holding a large bouquet of red roses. "These came in for you this the morning, Ms. Kingston." She said coming to the room.

"Who are they from?" Serena asked.

"They didn't come with a note or letter, Ms., a man was just ordered to drop them by." The maid told her.

"Oh, set them up in a vase for me please." Serena requested her. She felt confused who would have sent her flowers? It wouldn't be Darien, he still thought she was Mina, so he would send them to her. Who could this be? She thought, confused.

She pushed the confusing thoughts out of her head and decided to pay attention to more important issues. Today she would tell Darien the truth. All of it. She smiled sadly to herself, she realized, there was a possibility after today he may never want to see her face again. But she couldn't lie anymore. There was also a chance, he would understand, Serena thought positively. She was hoping for the best.

Soon Serena had become so busy in the day's activities that she had completely forgotten about the flowers. In the two days Serena had spent with Darien, she had completely forgotten that their birthday was tonight! She had been so involved in Darien and everything around him, she had even forgotten it was already 17th November! Serena had been so wrapped up in the mess they had created she had almost forgotten to get Mina a present this year. Luckily she had just remembered at the last minute and her mom would help her find a good gift.

After a shower and quick breakfast, Serena and Irene had decided to go gift hunting for Mina. They had been shopping for several hours and Serena had finally decided to buy Mina 25 gifts, for 25 years of her life. It had taken them forever to decide upon each gift for Mina and by the time they were done, Serena and Irene were famished, they decided to have lunch at a nearby restaurant. They had just placed their orders and were talking generally, when someone called out, Serena's name.

"Serena Kingston?" Serena and Irene both turned around to look at the man, in question.

"Yes?" Serena answered politely.

"We met at your sister's engagement, remember?" He asked her.

"Oh my God, yes, of course." Serena stood up to hug the man. "Mom, this is Diamond Stark."

"Oh, hello son, she told him kindly, why don't you join us." She smiled and gestured to the empty chair next to Serena.

"Would be my pleasure Mrs. Kingston." He smiled and sat down.

"So what brings you here, Diamond?" Irene asked him, making conversation.

"I had come to do some shopping." He told them, pointing at the bag, he had placed at his side.

Diamond placed his order and the three of them continued to have a pleasant conversation, when Irene's phone rang and she had to excuse herself.

Serena and Diamond continued to talk animatedly. Irene watched as Serena laughed at something Diamond said, he smiled charmingly at her. It was obvious that Diamond liked her, she watched as Serena suddenly blushed at something he had said. Irene smiled, she wished that one day Serena too, would find someone who would always keep her this happy.

Irene came back to the table and informed Serena that her father had called her back home immediately; apparently something big had come up. She apologized to Diamond and asked them to continue with their lunch.

"So how's your brother in law?"

Serena's head shot up at his reference to Darien, she had never thought of Darien as her brother in law, she knew it, but the term had never been used and now she felt how wrong that sounded. Recovering quickly from her train of thought, she replied.

"He is very nice." An unnecessary blush, warmed up her cheeks

It didn't go unnoticed by Diamond, but he chose to ignore it anyway.

They talked amicable over lunch. Serena realized Darien and she never talked this way over lunch, they would always eat in comfortable silence. When lunch was over, Diamond offered to drop Serena home and she had declined, but he insisted anyway, to which Serena couldn't say no, afraid she would sound rude. He opened her side of the door for her, reminding her of Darien again and she sat inside. This was the second time she had compared Diamond to Darien she counted. As he drove her to her house, she realized Diamond and she had gone to the same school, only he was 5 years her senior. They spoke excitedly about everything they missed and remembered about school. The more they spoke, the more they realized how much they shared in common. Before they even knew it, they had pulled up outside her home, Serena thanked him and got out of her car.

She noticed another familiar car parked outside her house, Darien's car. It was just 4 in the evening and he had to pick her up and 8 for dinner, she felt confused why he would be here so soon. She looked back and waved out to Diamond as he drove off. She started walking into her house feeling a sense of foreboding take over her.

As she started taking the stairs up to their front door, she saw Darien walk out of her house. He was dressed as usual in an impeccable suit and looking as gorgeous as he always did. He looked at Serena and smiled, she couldn't help but feel something was very off about his smile today, but she smiled back anyway.

"Hello, Mina." He said in that extremely sexy voice of his.

"Hi." She replied nervously, the way he was looking at her today almost felt predatory. She was feeling extremely unnerved by him suddenly, he seemed to have an extremely cold aura about him today.

"I have got you something, your mom has gotten it sent up to your room, hope you like it." He said and placed a kiss on her cheek. They fell into silence, which Serena realized was a very intimidating sort of silence, she gulped and tried to find something to say, she thanked her lucky stars, when they both turned at the sound of a car approaching.

Serena looked puzzled when she saw Diamond's car coming back to her house. He halted in front of them and popped out of the car, waving Serena's purse above his head.

"You forget this, madam." He told her jokingly.

"Oh, thank you." She said nervously, from beside Darien. She could feel his hard gaze on Diamond. She didn't dare turn around and look at him right now, she also prayed to the Lord above them, that he wouldn't take her name, in front of Darien.

"Hi, my name's Diamond, I am afraid we haven't met before." He told Darien with a bright smile.

"Darien." Darien replied smoothly, not encouraging any unnecessary talk, keeping his expression neutral and aloof.

"Oh, ok." Diamond got the point and made to leave.

"Well, it was nice meeting you." he told Darien. "Lunch was fun, we should do it again sometime." He gave Serena a charming smile and waved at her.

"Sure." Serena answered weakly, feeling like a deer caught in headlights. She felt Darien go stiff next to her.

Diamond made a quick exit and they both stood and watched his car fade away, once his car had vanished out of sight, Darien turned to her.

Serena knew she had it coming, when he turned around. "You, went out for lunch with that nitwit?" He asked her in such a cold manner, she shivered.

"Not exactly." Serena provided weakly once again, not meeting his glare.

"Care to elaborate?" He asked tauntingly.

Serena opened her mouth to reply, when her mother walked in on them.

"Oh you're back." She stated looking at Serena.

"Why, are you two standing outside, come on in and have a chat, it's getting cold outside."

"No, it's quite alright, I was just leaving, we are done talking." He stated a little coldly, Irene didn't catch the jab in his comment, but Serena did, it hurt.

"I'll come get you at 8, but ready." He told Serena, before waving at her mother and walking to his car.

They watched him get in and leave, Serena felt herself breathe and realized she had been holding her breathe. What had gotten into him, he was behaving weirdly.

"Come on." Irene told Serena a little too chirpily.

"What has gotten into you?" Serena asked her mother.

"Nothing, honey, why do you ask?"

Serena was too tired to push it right now, she gave up and excused herself to rest a little before she got ready for her date. It was going to be a tough night and she had to prepare herself, to stand up and face the consequences of the truth she was going to unleash.

Serena walked in to her room and was hit by the most amazing smell, she found a bouquet of the most gorgeous lilies she had ever seen kept, on her bed, she walked up to the flowers and lifted them to her nose, taking a lung full of sweet fragrance. She carefully placed them in a vase and kept them on her dresser. She turned around and noticed a box kept at the head of her bed, she walked up to it and open it, gasping when she saw its contents. Inside it, lay a gorgeous navy blue silk gown, she lifted the note kept atop the dress with shaking hands and read.

" I once had a thousand desires, but in my one desire to know you it all melted away" -Rumi

Serena's heart was beating like a runaway train. The gift had just made her realize, how much she was about to lose. Tonight she would lose Darien she knew, she almost considered lying to him till the rest of their lives, if it meant she could be with him for the rest of her life. How in the world was she going to let him go. She had fallen head over heels with a man that was about to start loathing her. She deserved it too, she could have taken the right path and told him the truth in the start, but she had just followed with Mina's head-and-tail-less plan without a single thought. Serena knew she was going to pay for her ignorance.

She smiled sadly as she looked at the lilies. It wouldn't be a crime to enjoy the last of the time she had with him, would it?

…..

Darien had come to pick up Serena promptly at 8. As he waited for her at the door, his heart skipped a beat, she looked angelic in the dress he had bought her. What irony! He thought sarcastically.

It had taken him hours finding the right dress for her, he had gone from store to store searching for the right dress and finally he had laid eyes on this dress and knew instantly it was perfect for her. It had been an off shoulder dress, that hung low on her shoulders, barely held up by just one tiny strap on each shoulder, displaying her creamy skin and the top of her generous breasts. The dress was simple and had no extra work, just a simple lace tie at the back and a thigh high slit, exposing her shapely long legs. She had paired it with simple diamond drop earrings and matching high heeled pumps.

When she reached Darien, he gave her his most charming smile. She smiled back at him, he didn't miss the sadness that was in her eyes. His heart tugged and he felt curious about what made her sad, but he immediately pushed the thought aside.

"Shall we?" He asked her, taking her hand in his and leading her out.

"Yes." She replied.

Together, they walked to Darien's, car and he opened the door for her, once she was in, he walked to his side of the door and got in.

Darien turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life.

"Are you ready for the time of your life?" He asked her.

Serena nodded. Why did she feel there was a hidden meaning in there somewhere?

They drove off.

Serena couldn't help but feel anxious. Darien's entire demeanor was very off today. It was one of the days when there was storm inside him. Serena decided to stay quiet and watch as the night would unfold itself.

Darien had driven them to the fanciest restaurant in town, Wasabi. The valets pulled open their doors with a flourish to let them out. Serena smiled at the man thankfully and walked toward Darien. She couldn't help but remember the time when, he had rushed to her side to help her out himself, at the royal club. They walked into the restaurant hand in hand and Serena let out a gasp, she had been to several fancy restaurants, but none of them was quite close to this.

Wasabi, being a Japanese restaurant, was done up gorgeously. From the outside it was any other building, but on the inside it was done up in traditional Japanese styles, from the feudal era. She looked around and saw several gazebos, that were done up in traditional Japanese pagoda style. There were tables under the pagodas and gave the patrons privacy during their meal. There were several brass statues that were lined up on the walls and gave the restaurant almost a palatial feel. She loved the place almost instantly.

"So you like it?" Darien seemingly read her thoughts.

"Yes." She replied in wonderment.

They were ushered to a gazebo and a man dressed in traditional Japanese uniform came to take their orders. Serena had no idea about Japanese food and looked confusedly at the menu.

Darien immediately picked on Serena's thoughts again and ordered for her as well. She smiled at him gratefully, he grinned back.

In the dim lights of the restaurant, Darien looked even sexier than his usual self, the lack of light was throwing shadows on his face and it made him look very enigmatic. Serena felt mesmerized by his perfection.

"I hope you like this place, where food is concerned, knowing how you eat, I must warn you, they serve small portions of food." Darien chuckled at his teasing comment.

"I'll try to manage." Serena replied, giggling, trying not to fall into his trap and take it sportingly.

Darien was a little surprised when she didn't rise to his bait. "So you have finally grown up then."

"You know that statement makes you sound like a pedophile, don't you?"

Darien chuckled at her wit. The deep rumbling of his laughter, gave Serena goosebumps. They fell into silence once again.

This was her chance, she decided. Serena knew she had to somehow find a way to confess the truth to Darien today. She summed up all her courage and decided to close her eyes and make the dive, without thinking too much.

"Darien?" Serena managed with much anxiety.

"Yes sweetheart?" He replied.

"I have been mea….." She wasn't able to finish, when the waiter walked up to their table, a large white box in hand.

"This was just delivered at the reception for you, Ms." He said, as he placed the box in front of Serena.

Serena looked at Darien questioningly.

"I am as clueless as you are." He replied shrugging his shoulders and looking at the box curiously.

Serena felt odd.

"Who could it be?" Serene thought aloud, she picked up the note on top and read it, all it said was,

"To my love, with all my heart."

She slowly moved to lift the cover of the box and look inside at the contents of it.

Darien watched the color drain from her face. Her eyes widened in shock and her lips quivered, she was staring into the box and a look of shock and fear marred her pretty features.

"What's in it?" Darien asked frowning, his view was blocked by the position she was holding the cover of the box in, he moved his hand and took the cover from her grip, Serena didn't even realize when he took it from her.

When he looked into the content of the box, he saw a box of crumpled and torn up flowers. He realized they were the same flowers he had got her that evening!

"What the fuck!" He muttered angrily.

An envelope lay atop the mass of crushed flowers. She picked it up with shivering hands, she pulled out the note out with shaky fingers and read it hesitantly.

Anger had started to settle in the pit of Darien's stomach, he saw Serena looked the note and gasped. Tears sprung up in her eyes and threatened to spill down her porcelain cheeks.

Darien took the note out of Serena's hand and looked at it.

It was the same note he had sent her, that very same day, the message he had written had been scribbled on vehemently. He heard Serena gasp again. Darien looked at her, tears were streaming down her eyes freely now and she pointed one shaking finger at the note.

"There's something written, behind it." She whispered.

Darien turned the note around and read it, his eyes darkened and narrowed with unconcealed rage.

" I may not be your first kiss, your first love or your first anything, but I promise you my love, that I will be your lasting love, forever."

Darien crumpled the note and put it inside the breast pocket of his suit. He looked at Serena who looked completely stricken from what had just happened.

"What did it say?" She whispered.

"Nothing at all." He tried to sound as casual and calm as he could.

"Come on, let's get out of here." He said getting up and taking her hand in his. He dropped some money on the table and proceeded to help Serena up. Serena got up slowly, her feet were shivering uncontrollable. She held on to Darien's hand tightly, afraid she would fall if he didn't support her.

Darien walked to Serena's side and wrapped a comforting hand around her waist. She looked up at him, still dazed from the night's events. She didn't realize, that she had completely forgotten about the truth she wanted to tell him. When they reached the reception of the restaurant, Darien excused himself from Serena apologetically, he walked up to the reception and spoke to them in an urgent and infuriated manner, as soon as he was done, he came back to her side and led her to their awaiting car. Serena got inside and waited for Darien to follow suit. He got into the driver's seat and looked at Serena once before they drove off into the night.

Serena realized she had completely gone blank, until they stopped in front of what looked like a modest diner. She turned and looked at Darien and he smiled at her, she noted that this was the first genuine, smile he gave her today.

He got out of the car and came to her side and opened her door too. She took his awaiting hand and pulled herself out of his car. He led her into the diner. She realized instantly, that all eyes were on them standing at the door of the humble diner, in all their lavish finery. Darien and Serena stood out, in the modest exteriors of the diner, from the way they were dressed, to the way they moved and carried themselves, they easily stood out. Serena squirmed under all the attention they were receiving, she moved closer to Darien and held on to his arm for support, he smiled at her and led her to an empty booth.

A waitress came in to take their orders and smiled flirtatiously at Darien.

"How can I help you two today?" She asked Darien, not even bothering to throw a second's look at Serena.

"Hi." He smiled charmingly. "We would like to have 2 extra large hamburgers with extra cheese, two plates of nachos and salsa, one large cheese pizza and 3 chocolate milkshakes." And turned to his date, "will that be enough?" He turned and asked Serena.

"Chilly cheese fries." She said innocently.

"Ok and 2 plates of chilly cheese fries." He turned back to the waitress and smiled.

The waitress looked taken aback by the couple in front of her, if it weren't for the finery they wore, she would think their poor hungry children, from a war stricken country, seeing food for the first time in ages. She realized she had been wondering too long because both the newcomers were now, staring at her suspiciously for standing there looking into space . She apologized quickly and left.

"Look what you did, you freaked out the poor lady, with your raging appetite." Darien teased.

"You seem to care a lot, considering how you were bestowing benevolent smiles upon her." Serena answered back a little irritated.

"Are you jealous, honey?" He chuckled.

"No!" Serena replied too fast and too vehemently, for her liking. Darien was now grinning from ear to ear, at her little show of jealousy.

The food arrived soon enough and they both dug in. They ate their food silently, till Serena looked up at Darien. He felt her looking at him and met her gaze, she wanted to tell him something.

"What is it? You know you can tell me." He asked her understandingly.

"He was in my room." She told him seriously.

Darien was confused for a second, before she realized who she was referring to.

"The flowers and your note were kept in my room."

Darien frowned at the memory of what had gone down at Wasabi.

"We can talk about it later, let's not ruin the moment for now." He told her gently.

She nodded and silence fell upon the table again. Unbeknownst to Serena, Darien couldn't stop thinking about what had occurred tonight. He was shocked and now livid, someone had gone into her room! He could only question, how safe she was, if this person had such simple access to her room. He snuck a look at her and was relieved to see, she wasn't thinking about it anymore and was busy eating her fries.

Once they were done with dinner, Darien paid the bill and tipped the waitress generously. He led her out to his car and helped her in, before they drove back to Serena's house. By the time they reached her home it was already 11.50 p.m. Serena made to get out of the car, but Darien held her hand, she turned around and looked at him.

"Wait." He whispered.

She raised her brows in a silent question.

He leaned forward and opened the glove box and pulled out a gift wrapped box. He straightened and handed it to Serena.

Serena's eyes widened in surprise. "For me?" She asked innocently.

He smiled and nodded.

She started tearing the wrapper open excitedly, once the wrapper was undone, she made to lift the lid of the box. He placed his hand on hers.

He leaned in and captured her lips in one of his passionate kisses. She kissed him back with equal fervor. He suddenly pulled away and whispered hoarsely.

"It's almost time, open it."

"She looked downed and saw him move his hand from hers, so she could open the box. It all felt like it was in slow motion, when she lifted the lid off and looked inside. Serena gasped and her eyes widened. She looked at the gift and then at Darien.

"You don't like it?" Darien asked mockingly.

Serena looked down at the book on her lap, the title stared right back at her, 'And the Mountains Echoed' she read.

"How did you know?" She whispered back at him.

"Happy Birthday, Serena, my love." He said right before he crushed her lips in a hard, punishing kiss.


	9. The Storm

_**The Storm**_

"Happy birthday, Serena, my love." He said right before he crushed her lips in a hard, punishing kiss.

Serena had no time to fully recover from the shock of hearing Darien call her by her real name. Her heart was slamming against her ribcage, when she felt his lips cover hers in a ruthless kiss. His lips weren't gentle and passionate, they were hungry and all consuming. He was plundering her mouth, none too gently with his. Serena felt his hands move around her waist and pull her roughly to him, she was crushed into his hard chest. Serena felt herself slipping under the control he held over her, she was losing herself to his all-consuming kiss. Serena's hands moved around Darien's neck to pull him even closer to her.

The anger at being betrayed in Darien fueled, when he felt her soft body melt into his. He suddenly broke the kiss and straightened himself.

Serena was still dazed from the kiss and looked at Darien warily. How long had he known about this charade, she thought, her heart still pounding from the passion they had just shared. But as the smoke of desire, started to clear, Serena realized the real magnitude of the situation she was in. It was as if the fact that Darien knew about her lie had finally sunk in.

She turned and looked at Darien horrified.

Darien turned and looked at Serena's shocked look, he kept a calm and cold exterior himself. He gave her a smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes, that remained cold and calculating.

"Thought you would have me fooled forever didn't you?" It wasn't exactly a question as it was a statement.

"How long have you known?" She whispered, her eyes looked away in shame.

"Not long, considering what an amazing actress you are." Darien taunted her.

"I was going to tell you everything…..." Serena began, but was cut short by Darien.

"Save it." He bit out.

Serena was taken aback by his cutting tone.

"You and your sister almost had me fooled there for a while, but thankfully I came to my senses on time."

Serena listened as Darien spoke in the iciest tone she had ever heard, gone was the man she had met a few days ago, instead of him sat a cold and calculating man, who seemed to emanate a bone chilling coldness, Serena shivered.

"I trusted you and all you did was make me look like a fool for it." He paused and locked his stony glare on her, Serena couldn't look away from his eyes, she sat there arrested by his gaze. She felt intimidated by him.

"You will pay for hurting my heart, Rena." He finished.

Serena couldn't breathe; she felt fear creep into every fiber of her being. She had never seen Darien like this and it scared her. Serena swiftly opened the car door and stumbled out into the cool night air, her gift in hand. She swiftly walked into her home and was frozen in place. As she had stumbled into her house, she had drawn the attention of the entire party, that was now in full swing in her house!

Darien appeared behind her shortly, putting his hand on the small of her back and smiled at everyone devilishly. "Birthday girl no. 2 has arrived!" He announced.

"Surprise!" Everybody shouted in unison as Serena looked on in bewilderment.

He bent down to her ear and whispered. "I promised myself, I wouldn't let you run away from me, ever again, Serena." His breathe tickled her ear and Serena shivered from fear or excitement, she couldn't say. How could this man sound so intimidating, threatening and so sexy at the same time, she wondered. It didn't help that her name sounded so sensual every time he said it, it made her heart skip a beat.

Serena's wide eyes scanned the room for her parents and, she finally spotted them standing in the other corner of the room and beaming at her. They waved at her excitedly and Serena waved back unenthusiastically. She was so confused right now, she needed to talk to her parents and ask them, what exactly in the name of God was going on here?! Serena looked through the crowd for Mina and finally found her talking excitedly amidst a group of friends.

Serena realized she had started looking foolish standing at the door of her house for so long, she decided to just forget about what had happened with Darien and at least enjoy her party, she could worry about life once the party was over.

Serena started making her way to Mina. She felt confused when people looked at her and mouthed, best of luck, congratulations and gave her the occasional thumbs up. All she could do was look at them and smile back politely. Darien was still walking beside her, his hand still on the small of her back, something was amusing him immensely and he kept smiling.

"What?" Serena shot him an irritated look.

"Temper temper, my love." He told her in a sing song fashion.

"Stop calling me that!" She bit out.

"Calling you what?" He asked innocently.

"You know!" She answered frustrated.

"But I don't." He answered with mock innocence, making his eyes large and pouting his lips.

"Darien you are infuriating me!" She whispered.

"I don't know what you're talking about, my looooooooo…ouch!" Darien groaned and looked at Serena who had promptly stomped down on his foot and twisted the heel of her stiletto into it a few times for good measure.

"What you do that for!" Darien looked at her accusingly.

"Do what, my love?" Serena asked innocently, widening her big blue eyes and pouting.

"You did that on purpose!" Darien argued.

"Do what, baby?" She faked another innocent pout.

"You crushed my leg, you big hippo." Darien retorted.

"Wait, what did you just call me? You want to see, what a real hippo can do to you!"

"Wow, you two are so mature." A third voice interrupted them. Serena and Darien turned to look at the owner of that voice.

Serena's eyes fell on her twin and she instantly smiled, forgetting about the intense argument she had just been involved in. She hugged her happily and both the girls squealed. "Happy Birthday!" They both wished each other in unison and giggled.

"Thank you, Serena." Mina said emotionally, Serena was a little taken aback by the sudden show of emotion.

"For what?" Serena asked her sister, feeling honestly confused.

"For sacrificing so much for me, for actually pretending to be me and going out with Darien, for lying to everyone for me, for everything, Sere!"

"You know, you never have to thank me, I love you and I would do it all over again." Serena replied genuinely.

"But you won't, since you spoke to Darien about the entire charade and confessed everything and he understood, he spoke to mom and dad and sorted it out, infact it was _**his**_ idea to throw this surprise for us tonight!"

"Oh, really?" Serena asked looking suspiciously at Mina. Something was so fishy about him tonight, she knew he was up to no good.

Serena turned to look at Darien and realized he wasn't at her side anymore. She looked around the crowd and didn't find it too hard to spot him standing near the stairs and talking to her parents. She decided to go and confront him, she needed to know what he was upto right now! She started making her way towards Darien, when she saw him walk up the stairs and turn around. He was now easily visible to the entire crowd of 400 people present at her house and he cleared his throat to speak.

"Shit is about to get serious." Serena muttered to herself and realized a couple of guests around her had heard her and turned to look at her completely shocked. Serena blushed wildly and gave them a weak smile. _**Shit.**_ She kicked herself inwardly.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Darien's voice boomed in the hall. "Ken, Irene and I, are so glad and thankful you could make it at such short notice to Serena and Mina's surprise birthday party tonight. But as you all also know, that Mina and I are no longer engaged to be married. As it turns out Mina and I, as much as we tried could not bring ourselves to love one another."

Serena looked around to realize how the crowd was looking at Darien, with understanding and sympathy in their eyes. Although, the women in the crowd seemed too pleased and happy, she noticed.

"Bitches." Serena muttered, receiving more stares of indignation from the people surrounding her.

"I am proud to announce though, I have finally found my love and my soul mate in another."

Serena's ears perked up at Darien's statement and she looked up, she felt, sorrow, excitement and fear all at once.

"And tonight I will officially make her mine, ladies and gentlemen I present to you, my love, Serena Kingston." Darien finished and held his hand out to Serena to come forward and join him. The entire room clapped and cheered, when Darien took her name. Everyone turned to Serena and waited for her to go and take her rightful place next to Darien. Even her parents stood at the foot of the stairs and cheered her to go up. She looked up at Darien and saw the amusement in his eyes, he knew what he had done, he had put Serena in a great predicament and he enjoyed every minute of it.

"That rat bastard."

Serena knew she had no other option, but to go and join the man waiting for her on the stairs. She looked around at all the excited faces around her and Serena smiled as best as she could and walked towards Darien. Serena knew she couldn't create a scene right now, it was best to just go with the flow right now and tackle things once she could catch Darien alone. Serena felt numb as she starting walking up the staircase, she took Darien's still outstretched hand and suddenly he pulled her up next to him. Serena's eyes were wide as she was suddenly tugged by Darien, in slow motion she saw his hand wrap itself around her waist and the crowd cheered him on, when he dipped her and gave her a devilish smile. Slowly his head lowered to hers, Serena watched mesmerized as he slowly covered the distance between them, her eyes shut by their own accord and then Serena felt his lips on hers in the most gentle kiss he had ever given her. Serena felt everything around her fade away. Her heart thumped in her chest and her mind surrendered to him, all she could feel was the drug that was Darien Shields. Disappointedly she felt Darien's lips let hers go and slowly her mind came back to reality, her eyes open slowly, to focus on his Sapphire eyes, Serena could once again hear the people around her. Serena blushed profusely. She knew in that moment more than ever she was irrevocably in love with this man, no matter what he did to her, she was in love.

She couldn't manage to break eye contact with him, she was his prisoner now and forever.

He smiled at her then as she looked back at him as if in a trance.

"Serenity Kingston" she heard him say,

"Will you marry me?"


	10. The Eye of The Storm

Serena wasn't sure if she had heard him correctly. She looked into his Sapphire eyes as they stared right back at her. She would have thought she had imagined things if it wasn't for Darien looking down at her expectantly. She felt unsure of herself as she looked at him warily. She felt self-conscious as she realized, an entire room full of people were looking at her, holding their breath and waiting for her to say yes.

"Come on say yes aleady!" She heard someone say from the crowd.

Serena turned her head in the direction the sound came from. Suddenly she felt Darien's head descend next to hers and his warm breath fanned her ears and neck.

"Come on love, I am waiting for your answer." She heard him say to her sensually.

She turned and looked at him. Darien could clearly see the wariness in her eyes.

"I can't." She whispered.

Her answer didn't please Darien, she could see that, but to her amazement his expression did not falter, but his eyes glinted down dangerously.

"You don't have any option, my love." He replied smoothly. His face was smiling, but his voice was laced with a dangerous warning, Serena could only stare back at him silently.

"You deny me, Serena and I will ruin everything and everybody you love. I promise." Serena stared at him stricken, she couldn't move. She had never heard Darien speak like that, infact she had never considered Darien capable of speaking like that. She could not believe he would say something like that to her. His voice had been sugar sweet, his lips had smiled lovingly, but his eyes had flashed and he had delivered a threat that had sent a chill down her spine. Was Darien truly capable of doing that, would he do that if she hurt his ego? Serena did not want to find out. She could deal with Darien herself, but she could not get her family involved in this! She loved him. She would have said yes to him anyway, but this changed things. He was threatening her family made her feel angry with him. She made up her mind. She was going to now show Darien, that he had messed with the wrong sister.

"Serena, my love, my offer expires soon." He warned.

She looked at him and he saw her eyes harden, he had never seen such a determined look in her eyes before. Her hands moved from resting on his chest, to hold on to the collar of his shirt firmly. Darien looked surprised. Her face had become an unreadable mask and he was almost sure she was going to say no. Maybe he had ruined things by threatening her family, he thought. Now she was never going to say yes to him in her life!

"Yes." She said loudly and the entire room burst into cheers and whistles.

Darien was taken aback by her answer and his eyes widened. Taking advantage of his surprise, Serena pulled him down by his collar and captured his lips in a passionate kiss. Darien's eyes widened and then closed as the pleasure took over. He felt her kissing him with a dominance he did not know she had, she controlled the kiss and bit his bottom lip boldly. Darien moaned and let his mind go numb with her advances. Serena pressed her soft body to his and slowly rubbed her hips to his hardened member. Darien growled in pleasure. He did not know what had come over Serena, but he was definitely loving it.

As suddenly as the kiss began it ended. Serena pulled herself away from Darien, smiling like the Cheshire cat. Darien was dazed as he slowly opened his eyes and focused on Serena, she was smiling at him mysteriously. He grinned at her goofily.

"Touche." He told her huskily.

"You want to make me pay for lying, baby? Well two can play at that game." She told him softly.

Serena was surprised when Darien chuckled and shook his head.

"What's a fiancée, without her ring?" He finished by pulling out a small black box and opening it. Serena could only gasp. Inside sat a 5 carat, cushion cut, pink diamond ring!

Serena gasped, her eyes went wide with surprise and Darien smiled indulgently at her.

"For someone who is trying to make me pay for my lies, Darien, you are paying too much!" She said only for his ears.

"I leave no stone unturned, Rena."

Darien raised his other hand, palm up, gesturing for Serena's hand. Slowly she raised her own hand and placed it in his awaiting one, he slipped the ring on her delicate finger. The crowd gasped at the sight of the rock on her finger. Serena looked at Darien amd couldnt help but smile, she cpuld never remaon angry woth him for long. Still holding on to her hand, Darien lifted her knuckles to his lips and kissed them, sending shivers of desire down her arm and along her spine.

Serena looked at him shyly, a beautiful blush appeared on her cheeks and she almost forgot this was Darien making her pay for fooling him.

"Come." He told her and started leading her down the stairs.

As Serena followed him down she could not help but look at all the disappointed women giving her death glares from the crowd, she smiled smugly. Her eyes fell to her family and she saw them beaming at her with happiness and even Mina was looking at her and bouncing up and down in excitement She smiled at them and lifted up her left hand to show them her ring. If only they knew, she thought to herself.

From the distance from which he had been watching the couple, he could see how involved they were with each other. He seethed inside. He watched as the dark haired man, held _**his**_ Serena in his arms. He felt pure unadulterated, hatred for Darien Shields. He had stolen the only thing in the world he had ever wanted! How dare he! Darien could have gotten any girl in the world, but he was getting engaged to _**his**_ woman! He watched as Darien dipped his head down and whispered in Serena's ear, he watched as she looked at him. He heard her say yes to Darien! He watched when she pulled him boldly into a kiss and kissed him with such passion!

He did not believe his eyes! He watched them kiss as he was too stricken to look away! He watched when they pulled away from each other, love shining clear and bright in their eyes, they smiled at one another, the rest of the people in the room forgotten. This was wrong, Serena was his and he would make sure that one day Serena would look at him that same way!

Today he would leave behind a memento of his undying love for Serena that she would remember for the rest of her life, he promised her in his mind

He looked on as Darien slipped a diamond ring on her finger and kissed her hand, he then held her hand possessively and led her down. It wasn't Darien's fault that he loved Serena, she was a stunning woman. But she was the wrong woman for him to love and for that Darien would pay. He would pay for touching his _**"blondie."**_

Darien led Serena to the dance floor and as if on cue a romantic song began to play for them to dance on. Serena rolled her eyes when Darien pulled her into his arms and they began to dance on 'Every night in my dreams' by Celione Dion.

Darien chuckled at her antics. "Why roll your eyes, your dancing with the most awesome man in the world right now."

Serena just looked at him with a straight face. "Not funny."

"What! You accepted it yourself when we had gone for our little picnic, remember?

Serena gave him a shrug. "Nope."

"Oh come on, don't you remember? It was right before we furiously made out in the middle of nowhere?" He teased her.

Serena blushed profusely and glared at him.

Darien chuckled merrily, his eyes dancing with mirth, his bangs fell in his eyes, seemingly dancing along with his eyes.

"You know wha…..ouch." Darien couldn't finish his statement when suddenly he felt Serena stomp his foot again.

"Oh I am so sorry." She feigned innocence.

"No, you're not!" He said scowling at her.

"True." She said sweetly. "How well you know me, Dare."

"Yeah, I do right. I've got a complete Master's degree in studying wild animal behavior." He retorted smugly.

"You want an action replay of a rhino stomping out a fire on your feet, Darien!" Serena warned.

"So you agree then that you are a wild beast." He said wisely.

"I'll take that for a yes." And before Darien had registered her words, he howled as her heel made contact with his foot once again.

Darien stood there bouncing slightly on one leg, as Serena watched him with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Serves you right for being such a smartass!" She said, her arms folded on her chest.

"Mr. Shields, are you ok?" A voice interrupted the couple from each other.

Serena and Darien looked at the newcomer and Serena smiled in recognition.

"Oh My God! Is that you?" She asked.

"Hi Sere, it has been a longtime."

Serena moved forward and hugged the man standing in front of her and Darien watched the man hug her back. He felt immensely jealous watching Serena interact with the man, she had totally forgotten that he was standing next to her! He scowled.

"How have you been! Where did you vanish after school!" Serena asked him, finally breaking the hug.

"I have been doing great. I had moved to America for further studies, got back a few months back." he finished.

The two spoke, totally forgetting Darien was still standing there watching them, intently. He finally couldn't take it anymore and cleared his throat to catch their attention. They both turned around, suddenly realizing he was still there. Scowling.

"Oh Darien." Serena told him excitedly. "This is my old friend from highschool!"

Darien looked at the man as she introduced them, he moved forward to shake the man's hand.

"Darien Shields." Darien introduced himself, firmly shaking the man's hand, sizing him up.

"Hi, I am Seiya Kou."


	11. The Philosophical Psycho

Serena watched as Darien stood to his full height to meet Seiya, his eyes cold and uninviting, she could see that his tactics were also successful because now, Seiya was awkwardly shifting in his spot and looking back warily in Darien's eyes. She couldn't believe he was being so mean to the poor guy! Darien could be such a jerk sometimes.

As if sensing Serena's annoyance, Darien looked at Serena and she clearly saw the pleasure and enjoyment he was feeling, at poor Seiya's expensive. Sadist!

"Anyway Serena," Seiya finally spoke up, breaking the uncomfortable silence, that Darien was enjoying so much, "I have to go now, but we will definitely meet up again, got a lot of catching up to do." He finished, looking at Darien's reaction from the corner of his eye.

"Sure, Seiya, most definitely." Serena finished. Serena saw Darien frown at her in annoyance, from behind Seiya, when he moved forward to hug her goodbye.

He then turned to shake hands once more with Darien before leaving. Darien on the other hand made sure to squeeze his hand painfully, showing off his superior power and enjoying the smaller man's plight sadistically. His eyes laughed with wicked mirth, when his victim's eyes bulged a little from the pain and Serena having encountered everything looked on disapprovingly.

"What is wrong with you, Darien? Have you lost your mind?" Serena whispered out furiously, when Seiya was out of earshot.

"What did I do?" He asked innocently.

"You know what you did, you were making him uncomfortable on purpose." Serena replied accusingly.

"No, I wasn't." Darien defended, feigning hurt that she could think that he would do something like that.

"Yes, you were and the worse part is, you were enjoying it!" She jabbed an accusing finger in Darien's chest.

"Fine ok, I am guilty ok! But don't you lie too, when you say, you didn't enjoy it even a little." He shot back.

"No, I did'nt." Serena huffed.

Darien continued to stare at her pointedly.

"Fine, ok, just a little." She confessed.

"See that's my girl!" he told her chuckling. "Now, where were we? Before, we were so rudely disturbed."

Serena smiled at him good naturedly and rolled her eyes.

"What? We were dancing silly!" Darien said teasingly, chuckling away.

"Ms. Kingston." They both turned around to look at the maid standing before them, "I found this lying on the table over there." The maid gestured towards the table on their left. "It has your name on it."

Serena looked at the envelope the maid held in her hand questioningly and then turned with the same look towards Darien. He simply shrugged and moved his head indicated that he had no idea too.

"Thank you, Isabelle." Serena told her and took the offered envelope from her.

"Who is it from?" Darien asked curiously, moving behind Serena's shoulder and looking down to get a better look at the envelope.

Serena looked at it and turned it around in her hands. "I don't know it doesn't say anything, just 'to Serena', that's all." She said warily.

"Then open it and look." He told her inquisitively.

"Excuse me, this could be private you know! You can't just read it with me!" Serena told him jokingly.

"Oh yes I can, I am your fiancé now, I am entitled to read all your private notes, diaries, letters…..etc.."

"Oh, shut up, Dare, stop being so dramatic." Serena chuckled.

"Don't change the topic and open it." He told her impatiently, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Fine, fine." She turned the envelope around and proceeded to lift the flap up and pull out the note. Serena pulled the letter out and unfolded it. As they both read the note Serena's eyes widened in shock and Darien's brow furrowed in a grim manner.

"Dear Serena,

Happy birthday my love, I hope you liked the birthday present I sent you today, because I have left an even better one in your room!

Your one and only true love."

Serena slowly turned to look at Darien, her eyes filled with horror. She had completely forgotten about the creepy gift she had received, just a few hours ago. But being around Darien and getting wrapped up in his agenda and being suddenly engaged had totally made her forget about it. But now it had all come back to her and was getting creepier by the minute. Darien was still looking at the note, he was livid. Slowly he turned to meet Serena's eyes and he saw the fear within them, her skin had paled and she was shivering. Darien turned her around to face him and hugged her to him protectively.

"I need to go look in my room, Darien." She whispered, still within his embrace.

"No, you don't, Rena." Darien replied.

"Yes I do!" She said pulling her head up to look at him from within his embrace.

"Let me go and look first, baby." He told her sternly. "It could be dangerous."

"Let me come with you, I know nothing can happen to me, while you're around." She whispered.

"Are you sure?" Darien asked her.

"Yes, besides, no one can hurt a wild beast like me, without consequences." She said, giving him a weak smile.

Darien smiled gently at her. "That's my girl."

They both turned and walked toward the stairs together. Darien took Serena's hand in his and intertwined their fingers today, giving her support silently. Serena felt safe as his warmth penetrated her palms. She knew if she would have dealt with this by herself, she would have been scared out of her mind, but Darien had managed to creep his way into becoming her protector. She just knew in her gut that he would always protect her. That was just the sort of guy he was.

She turned and looked at him and he looked back into her cerulean eyes, he could see fear and anxiety mixed with another emotion in it, faith? His eyes were arrested by her gaze, she trusted him? After he cornered her into being his fiancée! Trust he realized was the wrong word, she had faith in him?

They walked hand in hand as they took the stairs up to her room, they walked through the lonely corridor in anxious and dead silence, they could hear the party and music on in full swing downstairs. It seemed like they had walked hours before they reached her room.

Silently they stood outside her room, just staring at it. Darien slowly turned around and looked at the anxious beauty standing beside him. She turned around slowly and locked gazes with him.

Serena saw the question in his eyes and Serena inhaled and exhaled deeply before looking at Darien, she nodded her head and answered him.

"Ready."

He nodded at her without smiling and squeezed her arm reassuringly.

Darien put his hand on the door knob and opened the door in one fluid motion.

As they both peeped inside the room, everything seemed to be in perfect order. Cautiously Darien stepped in first and then motioned Serena to come inside. She walked in nervously and looked around.

She let out a small shriek and gasped loudly, Darien turned around to look in the direction in which Serena was standing. He scowled.

"What the fuck!"

Her bed had been covered up by rose petals, so much so that the bed sheet below was not visible anymore. They both slowly approached the bed to find a small book lying on the bed, atop the petals. Serena watched with horrified eyes, she had never realized that such a romantic gesture could look so ominous. Her heart was ramming painfully against her ribcage. Things played out in slow motion, when Darien bent down to pick up the small book from her bed to inspect it. Serena watched him as he opened it and scowled again.

"It's a flip book." He stated in a hushed voice.

She watched as he held the pages bunched up and let them slip through his hands, to form the story. Darien's scowl deepened further.

"What is it?" She whispered.

Darien looked up at her and immediately masked his concern with an unreadable mask and tried to look cool.

"Nothing, I think it is a dumb prank." He gave an excuse. But his eyes were speaking volumes, Serena could see what he had seen, was troubling him.

"Don't lie to me, Darien, show me what it is." Serena said stretching her hand out for Darien to give her the book as she took a step towards him.

"No honestly, you don't need to see this." Darien argued back. "It's really stupid." He provided for her.

"Darien, I can handle it, show me!" She said sternly.

He sighed deeply and gave in. "Fine." He placed the book in her outstretched hand.

"Thank You."

It was Darien's turn to watch her as she flipped through the pages of the book. Her eyes widened and she flipped through the pages two more times. She gasped and looked up at him with fear and unshed tears shining bright in her eyes. What Serena had seen had petrified her to her core.

The pages had started with two stick figures of a boy and girl, standing apart and midway through the page they stood as a bride and bridegroom. It was abundantly clear the two figures were Darien and her. As the pages progressed it showed a third person with a knife, coming closer to the groom from behind, he stabs the bridegroom and the last pages shows the bride standing with the man with the knife. The body of the bridegroom laying on the side.

"You think someone is pranking us! Darien someone is threatening us!" Serena almost screamed.

"I didn't want to worry you." Darien stated taking a step near Serena.

She took a step back and looked at him. "Someone wants to hurt you." She said in a broken, unbelieving voice.

"Oh come on, that is not going to happen. You are taking this too seriously. This must be someone's idea of a joke." Darien tried to calm her.

"Joke? What sort of ludicrous sense of humor is this?!" She shot back at him.

Darien was about to say something back, when his eyes caught something behind her and his word just died before they even came out. Serena looked at him questioningly at first and then she saw his gaze fixed on a spot behind her, she too turned around.

She could see something on her dresser mirror. She moved towards it slowly to inspect it better and felt Darien right behind her. Once close enough they could see it was something written on the glass in red paint. She frowned.

"Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I shall meet you there." She heard Darien reading the words out aloud.

Serena's shock changed into pure, unadulterated fear as she stared into the glass. She could see Darien and her reflection standing side by side through the mirror. They both just stood there transfixed. A sudden realization dawned on her.

"It's….."

"Blood." Darien finished.


	12. Mirror Mirror

Darien and Serena had no idea how long they had been standing and staring at the mirror. Darien's face had gone from disbelief to absolute fury, he did not even attempt to conceal at this point. Why in the world was someone tormenting her so much! Was this really a psychopath or was this a bad idea of a prank. Darien's mind had been racing a million miles a minute. The only thing that really registered in his head was, Serena wasn't even safe in her own room and even house anymore. Darien slowly turned to look at his lovely fiancée, she stood as still as a statue.

Her face had turned deathly pale and her mind had numbed. She did not hold any emotion on her face, but her eyes were screaming in fear. Slowly she turned to look at Darien, her eyes locking on his. He could almost hear the deafening scream in her silent, tearful eyes. Darien was just about to take a step forward and take Serena into a comforting and protective hug, when suddenly a blood curdling scream pierced the silence around them, like an arrow pierces the air.

They were both startled out of the moment and turned to look in the direction from which the scream had come. Darien was the first to rush to Serena's balcony and look down. Serena slowly moved towards the balcony, she could not register things anymore. She slowly approached the balcony and felt her mind and body go numb. Her body had finally gone into self-preservation mode and put up a veil of haze over her mind. She barely registered Darien turn around and looked at her, Darien was moving his head from side to side, pleading for her not to look down.

Serena saw him move swiftly towards her and hold her hand, he started leading her quickly out of the room. On the way down she knew somewhere in the back of her head Darien had placed a few calls, but her mind had been too shocked to register anything. Everything seemed so surreal. She saw her parents once she reached down the stairs and they looked troubled. Darien had led her to them and had asked them, to take care of her and keep her out of her room at all costs.

Only when Serena had watched Darien walking away in the direction of her garden, her mind started awakening once again. She looked desperately at his retreating back, the panic in her wide eyes, mounted with each step he took away from her. When she saw him vanish through the French doors, into the garden, her mind went into red alert. Fear gripped her and suddenly she felt the entire impact of tonight's events rush to her all at once. Serena was overwhelmed. Darien's mere presence had been warding off her fears like a talisman wards of evil.

"Darien?" She whispered in the direction he had vanished. Her parents did not notice the soft whisper that left her lips. They had been too busy talking to some concerned guests and reassuring them.

"Darien?" She asked much louder and desperately. Her parents turned to look at their daughter, completely oblivious to all the ordeals she had faced today. She didn't notice them. Her eyes glued to where Darien had gone.

"Darien!" She screamed. The entire room full of people turned to look at her.

"Sweetheart, are you alright?" Her mother asked concern etching her kind face.

Serena looked at her mother for a split second with her wild eyes. Irene's heart stopped, when she saw the almost insane look in her daughter's eyes, she gasped.

Serena wrenched her hand from her mother's hold and almost sprang in Darien's direction. She raced towards the garden doors, her eyes searching for a dark head that stood out easily. On reaching the garden, she did not register the number of people in the garden, she did not noticed her traumatized sister, a concerned Andrew, or even the paramedics that were taking a bleeding, silver haired man out on a stretcher.

She finally spotted him, standing and issuing orders to some security personnel. He looked concerned when he saw her standing there, her hair flying wildly around her and her pale eyes wildly panicked. Before Serena knew it, she had rushed to him and wrapped her arms tightly around him in a desperate hug. Darien hugged her back protectively, feeling her clinging on to him with a need he liked and yet did not completely understand.

She let go of Darien after what seemed like forever and looked up at him.

"Why did you leave me?" She asked him in a hoarse whisper.

"I am sorry, won't do it again." He told her with a comforting smile.

"She looks like shit, I think she should get some rest." Darien turned to look at Mina, standing next to Andrew. Mina, had finally pulled herself together and looked a little more like herself again. Although her eyes still displayed how shaken she was inside.

"I think you are right." Darien turned around to look at Serena, who was still looking at him as if in a trance.

"Come on, Sere." Mina urged her, taking her sister's arm.

She looked at Darien, pleading him not to leave her.

"Of course I am coming, silly."

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Darien walked down the main staircase of Serena's house and was heading back to the garden. They had taken Serena to Mina's room to get some rest. It had taken a little less than an hour for Serena to finally fall asleep. The day's events had taken a toll on her and they came back to haunt her as soon as she closed her eyes. Darien ran a frustrated hand through his hair as he thought about the sleeping beauty. She would close her eyes and they would immediately fly back open fearfully, about 3 attempts later Serena had started fearing the concept of a good night's sleep. Finally he had sat down next to her on the bed and held her hand till she was surely sleeping. Once asleep he had left her in the care of Andrew, who was watching over both Serena and Mina and stepped outside to talk to the authorities.

When he entered the garden, the first thing he noticed was the amount of blood all over the grass, right below Serena's balcony. His mind went back to her room where they had heard the scream. He had run to the balcony and had watched as Mina stood over a motionless body and screamed herself hoarse. What had shaken him to his core was the girl screaming had resembled Serena so much, it made cold dread settle inside him. People had started coming outside to see what the commotion was and he had turned around to make sure Serena would not see the scene below her balcony. This night had turned into the worst nightmare of his life. It was still hard to believe all this was happening.

The authorities were waiting for him below the balcony, near the patch of stained grass. Two police officers stood with notepads in their hands and turned to look at Darien as he approached. Darien nodded to them and they immediately began questioning him about the night.

Darien told them everything from the crushed flowers, the flip book on her bed, the mirror and then the man below, lying in a pool of his own blood 25 ft below her balcony.

The police informed Darien, about the man in question who was Diamond Stark and Darien remembered him as the smiling man Serena had eaten lunch with today. Things did not make sense. They thought that it was Diamond who was Serena's stalker, who had been trying to hide in her balcony at the time and had tripped and fallen down, hitting his head on the stone pathway in the garden, he had fallen into a coma due to excessive loss of blood. His body had been found after about 15 minutes of lying there and bleeding away. The police assured Darien that they would continue investigating the case, till they were sure it was Diamond.

Darien found it ever so slightly difficult to believe it was Diamond who was capable of this. He had seen Diamond at several social gatherings and had never been formally introduced to him before today, but he always noticed the older man was ever smiling. But no one could tell what goes on in one's mind, can you, he thought to himself.

They informed Darien that they would need the mirror in Serena's room for a DNA test of the blood on it and Darien agreed to lead them to her room.

On his way there Darien was stopped by Serena's parents who looked very worried and confused. He nodded at one of the staff to usher the police officers upstairs and gestured he would join them in a few minutes. He told them honestly what had befallen that night and quickly excused himself to make his way back up to Serena's room. Leaving Serena's parents to deal with their confusion and shock.

He didn't know why he had suddenly taken a detour to the garden once again, Darien felt like there lay something in plain sight that he was missing. He walked out into the now cold morning air. The sun had come up above the horizon and the sky was splashed in hues of pink, orange and purple. Darien stood looking around the garden when suddenly he felt something glint in the morning light. He squinted in the direction and moved towards the glint quickly. Darien now stood in front of one of the many rose bushes in the Kingston garden. He observed the bush carefully, his eyes widened, many of the roses of the bush had been cut off, he looked around the other bushes and saw that many of the roses there had also been cut. What were the odds he thought. Could it be a coincidence, the flowers on Serena's bed were from her own garden. His mind was running havoc now, putting the few pieces of the jigsaw he had together.

As the light in the garden increased he saw something glint again, he looked down into the bush from where he thought the flash of light was coming. He bent closer to inspect it and he stilled. Inside the thick growth of thorny branches lay a green cufflink. Slowly and carefully Darien put his hands into the bush and pulled it out. He looked around to see if anyone was looking and quietly pocketed it and turned to walk into the house.

As soon as he had started towards Serena's room he knew something was going to go wrong again. He walked slowly and cautiously towards her room, his eyes fixed on the door. His mind was growing too tired and wary to think or comprehend any further, but he knew he had no option, he had to know what was going on. As he was a few steps away from the door, he heard sounds coming from inside, he moved closer to the door and held the knob. As if in slow motion the door swung open and the officers and staff members turned to look at him perplexed.

He frowned and looked at them questioningly and then his eyes moved across the room slowly surveying it from where he stood at the door.

"Mr. Shields….." The officer called out his name, as Darien's eyes fell on a particular spot in the room and focused.

"I am afraid the mirror is gone."

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That's it for now everyone, I hope you liked it. I also wanted to thank everyone who has been so sweet and reviewed my story. And also a special thank you to an anonymous reviewer. When I had started this story you had compared it and I was so hurt, I almost stopped writing. But then I came back again and promised myself that I would write better, and give it my best till even you would change your review. And you did. I get a lot of good reviews, but I guess it was that one bad review that made me want to give it my all. I really want to say unknowingly you did me a great favour. Thank You so much. But this doesn't mean everyone should start putting bad reviews up ok! ;)


	13. Promises Of Peace And Serenity

Darien quietly lifted an armchair and placed it near the sleeping form of his lovely fiancée before, sinking into it and breathing out a long sigh of relief. It was almost close to 7.30 am in the morning and the sun had already risen up way above the horizon. Darien had finally managed to get some rest now, but he could not get his mind to shut down and stop analyzing the events of today.

Darien squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. Slumping back in the chair, he looked at Serena's peaceful profile before him. He watched as her chest rose and fell in shallow and relaxed breathing. It was a soothing motion for him. His eyes slowly wandered to her sleeping sister beside her and the figure of her boyfriend slumped in another chair in a corner, fast asleep.

His mind had refused to give way and allow his exhausted body to fall asleep. He knew he needed the rest but his mind was too active to fall asleep. After the previous two revelations, Darien had finally realized how deep Serena's problems really were. The night had started with the gift at the restaurant, then the letter, to the flip book in her room and then the mirror. But that was just the beginning of the night, a man had been found lying in a pool of blood below her balcony, then a cuff link was found in the rose bushes in the Kingston garden and finally the cherry on the cake, the mirror with the bloody message had gone missing! The impact of knowing that this stalker and conspirator was so close to them and still out of reach, sent a chill down Darien's spine. This man was so close to them, to Serena. His tracks although well concealed, were unnervingly close and confident. This man knew what he was doing, he knew his way around even her house. Darien growled frustrated, it was clear the stalker was close, but how close he wasn't sure, it could even be one of the staff in the house! Serena wasn't safe anywhere!

He knew he had to keep her safe at all costs and he was going to get right on that. With that he quietly walked out of the room.

Serena's blurry eyes vaguely saw a dark head walking out the room before sleep took over her consciousness once again and she fell back into a comfortable sleep , this time a smile gracing her lips.

By the time Darien emerged from the Kingston study it was way passed 10 am in the morning. He was followed out by Ken and Irene, they both gave him an understanding and tired smile before turning around and heading for their room to finally get some rest. Darien smiled back at them and nodded. He had spoken to the Kingstons in detail about the nights events telling them everything that had happened. He had explained to them his fear that the stalker was very close to them and Serena's safety was questionable. Her parents were obviously petrified after they learnt the entire truth and were ready to go as far as possible to keep her safe. He was grateful for the infinite trust they displayed in him and agreed with whatever measures he felt would keep Serena safe.

Darien pulled his thoughts back and started heading towards Mina's room to check on Serena. As he entered the room he noticed Mina and Andrew were still fast asleep, but Serena was missing. A little worried Darien entered the room and looked around, checking the balcony and bathroom, Serena was not in the room. Darien walked out of the room and walked into the corridor, he thought he had a clue where she could have gone. He walked to towards Serena's room and sure enough he found the door open, walking in he saw her standing with her back towards him, she was facing in the direction her dresser should have been in.

As if sensing his presence in the room, Serena spoke without turning around.

"It's gone." She said raising her hand slowly to point in the direction of the now missing dresser.

"The police took it." He lied smoothly. He did not want to scare her more than she already was. "Come on, love, you shouldn't be here."

She turned around slowly to look at him. Darien could see the haunted look in her eyes and her pale face, his heart ached.

"Do they know who did it?" She barely whispered.

"Serena, you shouldn't be here." He changed the topic.

"Then where else should I be? This is my room. It's been my safe haven all my life." She breathed and looked around her.

Darien didn't know how exactly to answer her simple question. He had no answer for her question and so he decided to change the topic once again to be safe.

"You should be getting ready, we have a flight to catch soon." Darien said quickly, hoping his little excuse wasn't caught.

Serena's mind was reeling. Things were just happening too fast and she wasn't exactly able to pick up on everything going on around her. She thought she was losing her mind with the pace her life had picked up with.

"Flight? When? What?" Was all Serena's reeling mind mustered up.

"Yeah, there's a small charity ball in London organized by one of my friends and the two of us are invited." He finished.

"When?" Serena asked.

"Tonight."

"Ok." Serena replied in complete confusion.

"Ok what? Get ready we have to leave in an hour for the airport."

Serena's eyes widened.

"The fuck." Serena muttered.

An hour later, Serena was being dragged and shoved into the back of the waiting limo. She had barely gotten time to shower, change, pack and bid goodbye to her parents. She watched as her parents waved excitedly from the stairs that led to her house.

"Bye baby." They shouted.

Serena briefly saw Mina and Andrew emerge looking groggy and confused onto Mina's balcony, before she got into the car.

"Darien…." She grumbled as he unceremoniously climbed in behind her, shoving her further into her seat with his body.

"What." He barked back at her rubbing the spot on his head which had bumped into the roof of the car in his haste to leave.

Serena giggled at the cute sight he made and temporarily forgot her annoyance.

"You didn't even allow me to eat breakfast." She said pouting unconsciously.

"Of course I didn't that would have cost us another hour!"

Serena glared at Darien ready with a smartass comeback when she suddenly noticed him for the first time that day. Her words died a silent death. She gasped making Darien look at her, giving her a better view of him. He looked pale and exhausted. Although he had showered and changed into the clothes his staff had brought over for him at his orders, she could see that his appearance was slightly ruffled, even in his jeans and tee shirt. He had developed dark circles and the well groomed stubble he usually kept looked darker than usual. But his eyes were what stood out the most, they didn't have their usual spark anymore, they looked wary and tired.

Darien watched her observing his appearance and sent her a questioning glance.

"Have you slept at all?" She asked.

He didn't reply to that, just smiled sheepishly.

"I don't see what is so funny." She stated seriously.

"The fact, that you are worried about me."

Serena blushed.

"I like it." He concluded loudly and smiled, happy with himself.

"Thank you, Dare."

Being caught off guard, Darien turned to look at her. It was Serena's turn to smile looking at the confused look in his eyes when he turned to look at her.

"For everything you did."

Darien smiled at her when he realized what she was talking about last night. He did not want to discuss the events with Serena till he did not get down to understanding what was going on. Instead of replying he took her left hand in his and looked down at the sparkling engagement ring on her finger. His heart swelled with pride when he realized she was his now, under whichever pretext he had told her it was, but she was still his. He kissed her knuckles gently and pulled her close to him. Serena only blushed again.

Darien watched the woman sitting in the crook of is arm. A sort of peace came over him and he finally felt a little relaxed. He hated going to charity balls and galas to meet several different people you didn't really give a flying fuck about. This was just to get some distance between Serena and yesterday's events. And so here they were going to the ball that he had already informed his friend he wouldn't be appearing for, but this was the only thing he could think of right now. Darien rested his head against the head-rest behind him and closed his eyes, finally dozing off.

Their ride to the airport went fairly smoothly, with Darien asleep. They got off the limo and walked in to the small airport of their town. After being escorted quickly toward their awaiting jet , Serena was a little taken aback to know that her fiancé owned a chartered plane and soon that surprise changed to confusion, when she realized that he had hurried her so much for the flight when he owned his own plane, as if, she thought vaguely, he was getting her away from something with great haste.

The flight to London was not too long and eventful and before Serena knew it, they were standing at the busy airport in London.

"What a change." Serena observed looking around.

"Yup." Darien agreed off handedly, it was clear he had come here often enough.

They walked out to a waiting limo and got inside. Serena looked out the window in wonderment. She had been to a few places out of town and she had been to London airport many times for her flight's transit, but never to London, the city. Serena realized they had come to a halt. The door to the limo was opened by their chaperon and Serena smiled graciously at the man before stepping out and taking in the cold London air.

They had been escorted to a fancy looking high-rise building and Serena quietly followed Darien as he led the way in. They got into the elevator and Darien pressed the button to the 30th floor, which Serena noted was the top floor. Stepping out she again followed Darien out and realized that the elevator had opened directly into a massive apartment.

Serena was mildly surprised when she heard a voice greet her. She turned and looked at a tall man, most probably in his sixties, dressed in a crisp suit and gloves, smiling warmly at her.

"This is Mr. Summers, our caretaker." Darien smiled and introduced him.

"And this must be your lovely fiancée." He gave Serena a small bow.

"Oh, there's no need for that." Serena said shyly in context to his bowing.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kingston." He replied humbly.

"Just Serena would do." Serena told him honestly.

"As you wish, Serena." He said.

He turned to look at Darien and spoke again.

"The rooms have been readied as you asked, Master Shields." He stated and started leading the way.

"Thank you." Darien replied and followed behind him, Serena in tow.

Serena looked around in wonder as they walked deeper in to the house. It looked old and cozy, with its high ceiling and dark wood interiors. Serena knew from the exterior of the building it was a fairly new building, but the interiors were totally done in ornate and old Victorian style.

"This would be your room, Rena."

Serena was pulled out of her musings when she heard Darien's voice. She looked at him for a few seconds before the words finally sunk in and she blushed. She remotely heard Mr. Summers excuse himself and say something about lunch being ready.

"Oh." Was all she said and walked into the door that was held open for her. She walked into the room and looked around her. It was much larger than her own room back home and much more luxurious too. Serena noticed that the room was the same style as the entire house, done in dark wood and ornate carvings. The room had a King-sized canopy bed in the center and a large balcony with French doors on one side and a large bookshelf with comfortable armchairs on the other. Serena wandered over to the bookshelf and ran her fingers on the various spines of books on the shelf.

She turned and looked at Darien with a smile.

"It's gorgeous." She breathed.

"Wanna get lunch?" He asked her with a mysterious smile.

"Love to." Serena smiled back.

Darien held out his hand and Serena walked up to him and took it. She watched as Darien led her passed the dining room and looked at him curiously. He smiled down at her and gave her the 'wait and watch' look, so she decided to trust him with it. He led her passed the large dining table that could seat about 10 people.

"'Where are we going, Darien?"

"Right here." He replied and stopped at the large double doors at the other end of the dining room. He turned around and looked at her dramatically.

"You ready?"

Serena rolled her eyes and giggled at the drama he was putting up for her.

"Yes!"

He let go off her hand and pushed the closed doors open with a flourish. Serena breath caught in her throat when the doors moved to reveal a large balcony on the other side. There was a table set for 2 ready and waiting for them. Serena felt Darien's hand on the small of her back lead her onto the balcony. As she got closer to the railings, her view down below kept increasing and her eyes were glued to the sight that was revealed with each step further she took on the balcony. Below her was the panoramic view of what seemed like the entire city of London to her. She could see the London Eye far off into the distance, with the Palace of Westminster behind it, there was the Tower Bridge and Tower of London too. Serena slowly turned to look at Darien who was also enjoying the view.

"You have a penchant for panoramic views don't you?" Serena asked him.

Darien turned and looked at Serena and realized they had just been standing there quietly enjoying the view. He led her to the table and pulled a chair out for her before going around the table and taking a seat himself.

"You could say that." He smiled at her.

Serena looked down at the spread of food and felt happy. There was an entire hot plate with steak, chips, peas, caramelized onions, beans, topped off with worcestershire sauce.

"Let's dig in then." She heard Darien say and on cue, she picked up her fork and knife and began their feast. They ate in comfortable silence for a while until Serena spoke.

"Darien?"

Darien looked up from his meal to see Serena looking at him intently.

"Umm yeah?" He asked her a little unsure of where this was going.

"I am sorry for lying to you and pretending to be Mina."

Darien was taken aback by her sudden apology. He looked into her eyes and saw the genuine regret in them.

"I meant to tell you yesterday at the restaurant, but then that creepy…..and then I realized you already knew." She finished

"Well, in that case then, I have an apology to make too."

It was Serena's turn to look at Darien with surprise in her clear blue eyes.

"For being a jerk, sticking you in a corner and forcing you to get engaged to me." He told her in a guilty tone.

Serena's only reply was a forgiving smile.

"I know you lied to me and that was a bad thing, but what I made you do was worse."

"It doesn't matter anymore, Darien. You're a good man at heart , although I was very shocked to see you so furious. The way you found out may have made you upset, I would understand, but I never considered you to be the furious, seething kind you know." She finished confessing.

Darien put his fork down and sighed loudly. Serena waited patiently for him to reply at his own time.

As if he was considering each word carefully before telling her Darien began.

"It wasn't exactly your fault, Rena. It's just a longtime ago I made a few mistakes, I made some bad judgments and trusted the wrong people. But as they say, nothing good can come off reckless decisions and I paid heavily for my actions. In the end I felt betrayed, cold and foolish. I lost someone I thought had truly loved me and with that I also lost a small piece of me. I found it increasingly hard to trust people after that and I kept a safe distance from everyone as an act of self-preservation. Then you came along pretending to be Mina and after a long time I found someone I was connecting with, someone I started feeling I could trust. I liked talking to you, it was like having a friend and at the same time you were my fiancée, so it made things feel sort of perfect. You always seemed genuine, honest and naïve and when I learnt the truth about you being Serena, I had a sense of déjà vu. I felt stupid and…hurt…..and I poorly concealed that under the pretext of fury and revenge. But I am not that sort of person, Serena."

Darien had opened his heart up and poured it out to Serena and she took it all in quietly. She listened to him patiently and looked into his navy eyes, the strong man in front of her was gone, and replaced by someone who was a person searching for her understanding, her empathy and her acceptance. Serena felt her heart swell and it felt it break when she saw the vulnerability he was displaying just for her eyes right now.

She gave him her best smile and reached out for his hand that was resting on the table, she slipped her fingers between his and gave him her most genuine look.

"You don't have to explain to me, I haven't known you long, but I just feel like I have known you all my life. You are a brave and good man. We all make mistakes, I made some too, but that doesn't change who we are. Our mistakes do not define us, the person we seek to become does. For me Darien Shields, you will never need to seek acceptance, I will always be there for you when you need me, as you have been for me."

They sat in silence, not one of them moving, they hadn't realized how long they had sat together in peace, the city below them forgotten. They were scared to move a muscle in case the magic of the moment was broken. They were only shocked out of their stupor, when they heard Mr. Summers walk in and clear his throat. Both of them blushed profusely and didn't meet the eyes of their audience.

"I brought you two some dessert and tea." He finished,acting as if he hadn't encountered anything.

"Thank you." They both mumbled and ducked their heads down and busied themselves in their desserts.

"You two must start getting ready soon, it is already 5 pm and the ball starts at 7pm." With that said Mr. Summers turned around and left the two alone on the balcony.

"He's right, let's go get some rest and get ready soon." Darien told Serena once Mr. Summers had left.

"Ok."

Darien led Serena back to her room, he gave her a peck on the cheek and turned to leave.

"Oh and Serena." He suddenly turned around.

"Yeah?"

"I hope you have something decent to wear, I don't want to be embarrassed with your small town clothes." He joked and chuckled when he saw her face redden with annoyance.

"I'll be waiting for you in the foyer at 6.30 pm sharp, don't be late." He finished and left.

Oh that insufferable man Serena fumed. He was always pulling mean jibes and jokes on her appearance and habits. She was going to get him someday! Serena turned and walked into her room and slammed the door shut. And suddenly it hit her, she smiled evilly to herself. She had a plan and Darien Shields was at the receiving end of a very eventful night he would never forget.

It was already 7.15 pm and Darien sat alone in the foyer waiting for Serena. He was dressed in a crisp black tuxedo for the night and wore shiny black shoes to complete his ensemble. His hair had been sleeked back off his head perfectly with gel. He was frowning in irritation and decided to finally go see what was taking Serena forever to get out.

He got up and started to walked to Serena's room, he knocked at the door and receive no reply, he knocked again, frowning he called out to Serena.

"Hey are you ready?" He was replied by only silence on the other side of the door.

"Serena?"

No reply.

"Ok I am coming in then!" He said loudly and opened the door.

He opened the door to find Serena dressed in a tiny, blue denim mini skirt, a flimsy, white low neck halter, combat boots and long shoulder length earrings. Her hair was the only thing that was done, she had styled it into messy waves! She had done her eyes in dark smoky eye shadow and kohl and her lips were done with just a little gloss. She had cozied up in an armchair in the corner of a room and looked lost deeply in a book. Darien stood there stunned for a couple of minutes, taking her funky, yet sexy look in.

"You aren't ready yet?" Darien asked, shocked.

Feigning like she had just noticed him walk in, Serena looked up in shock.

"Oh yeah, give me a minute, she walked to her suitcase and pulled out a leather jacket.

"Ready!" She chimed innocently.

Darien looked at her in agitation for a moment before turning around and stomping off.

"You have got to be kidding me." He muttered under his breathe.

Serena watched him storm off and giggled, taking a moment to contain her mirth and gather her act, she followed him out of the room. Walking into the foyer she was surprised when he wasn't there. She frowned and looked around for him. She was waiting for a few minutes when a deep voice interrupted her.

"Looking for someone?"

Serena whipped her head in the direction of the voice with a start. One of her long earrings whacking her in the eye.

"Ouch!" She exclaimed placing a hand on her wounded eye and looked in the direction of the voice with the other and gasped.

Darien stood smiling and her smugly in jeans, a white tee shirt, black ankle boots with buckles and a leather jacket. His hair that was carefully sleeked back was now tousled sexily and falling over his amused eyes. He let her stare at him for a while for effect, then spoke.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah." She whispered, still reeling from shock.

Darien walked passed Serena still looking extremely smug and pleased with himself and got into the awaiting elevator. Serena walked behind him, the initial shock wearing off and annoyance setting in. She had not expected the plan to backfire and she definitely didn't expect him to play along. She had thought he would have been annoyed and then would plead her to go change, but apparently that was not going to happen. She shot Darien the death glare and he smiled back evilly at her, his pride still swelling with his silent victory.

They exited the lift and walked out of the building into the pleasantly cold night. Serena put on her jacket and ignoring Darien walked towards their awaiting limo.

"Where are you going?" She heard Darien call out from behind her.

She looked in Darien's direction just in time to see him mount a fancy looking black motorbike.

"Are you just going to stand there staring, come on we are already very late."

She was wary of getting on the bike in the cold night in a mini skirt, also she had never sat on a bike before! But her ego would not allow her to back down on. She didn't want lose and give up and ask him to let her go and change. If he wanted to play too, then she wasn't going to back off either.

She walked towards him, glaring at him the entire while. Not the one to back down Darien held her gaze with a mischievous and victorious one, challenging her to carry on this plan further. He put the key in the ignition and the powerful engine of his Harley roared to life. He pulled the bike out of parking and waited for her to get on behind him.

Once she was on, he gave her a sideways glance and put on his helmet.

"Hold on tight." He told her before they zoomed off into another eventful night.


	14. The Good, The Bad and The Gorgeous

Serena was rigid and frozen by the time they reached the mansion the ball had been held at. She sat huddled behind Darien her hands under his leather jacket to stay as warm as she could. Her legs had now turned to icicles and she could barely feel them anymore. She was cursing herself on the inside for coming up with this ridiculous plan in the first place and cursing Darien more for going along with it, the insufferable man that he was. The ride to the venue had been the longest 30 minutes of her life and she had sat for the first 10 minutes of the ride shivering uncontrollably till numbness took over and she couldn't feel anything from the tip of her nose to the bottom of her toes. She had slid as close to Darien as she could to take in his body warmth and slid her hands into his jacket for some reprieve, but that of course had been of little help.

As the bike slowed down Serena dared to take a peak over Darien's shoulder. What she saw made a shudder run down her spine, her eyes widened and a small gasp escaped her lips. Serena watched as hoards of cars lined the entrance of the mansion as people dressed in the finest clothes that money could buy stepped out of the cars and posed for the flashing lights of the cameramen that waited to capture the crème de la crème of society that were present at the affair.

Serena suddenly felt extremely intimidated and unsure of herself. She watched as one after the other beautiful women stepped out of their expensive cars in their gorgeous, designer gowns and heels. Her grip on Darien unconsciously tightened, as her fists balled up inside his jacket. It would be a mercy if she would faint right here and now and wake up in her bed in the morning realizing tonight was just a bad dream.

Serving as a reality check that this was not a dream, but plain and cruel reality, Darien stopped the bike right at the well lit entrance of the mansion, in front of the red carpet. As the roaring engine of the bike died, Serena watched in horror as the entire crowd turned to look at them. All at once all the noise and activity that was on just a second ago was now replaced by pin drop silence, except the loud thundering of Serena's heart against her ribcage. Every eye present at the venue was now staring at Darien and her in shock, curiosity and disdain. If lightening was ever to strike down on Serena and turn her into a heap of humiliated ashes, she wished it was right now. But as expected the lightening never came and every second felt like an eternity. Serena was frozen for the second time that night and it wasn't because of the cold.

Feeling movement from the man who had put her in this position, Serena looked forward as if in a trance and watched the scene unfold in slow motion. Darien slowly raised his hands to his helmet and pulled it off his head. Serena could hear gasps, whispers and murmurs from the crowd as the crowd recognized who the handsome man below the helmet was and as if on cue the cameramen started taking pictures of them relentlessly, everyone trying to get a picture of Darien Shields and his fiancée's grand entry at the ball. Serena was stunned to see the confidence that Darien exuded even under the circumstance, he seemed completely comfortable and unruffled with his surroundings. He turned his head slightly and motioned Serena to dismount the bike and Serena complied mechanically getting off the bike as best as she could without giving the entire crowd a lovely view of her undies. Darien got off the bike in one smooth and fluid motion after her and handed the keys to one of the valets. Turning around and giving her a devilishly handsome smile, he pulled her close to him and wrapped a hand around her waist and walked into the mansion, ignoring all the reporters and cameraman that called out to Serena and him for a short interview or picture.

Although Serena knew she was still very annoyed with her handsome companion, but she couldn't help feel a little at ease when his strong arm encircled her. Without daring to make eye contact with any one at all Serena let Darien lead her quickly through the large double doors into the mansion. Once inside she felt maybe it would have been a better idea to have stayed outside, the grand hall of the mansion was filled with the finest and most prominent faces of society and Serena felt extremely ridiculous standing there in her funky avatar. Feeling Darien's grip tighten on her waist ever so slightly, Serena turned to look up at him to find him staring down at her with amusement dancing in his lively eyes and a teasing smile gracing his full lips.

"You know…we can still leave, if, you can't go through with this." He told her teasingly and gestured animatedly toward the vastness of the hall. "You need only say that, you give up."

Immediately Serena's anxious and intimidated demeanor was taken over by her pride and self respect.

"No way, Shields! Maybe you're having second thoughts yourself and trying to get me to back out instead to save yourself the humiliation." She shot back, glaring at Darien.

Darien merely chuckled down at Serena enamored by the adorable vision she made when she was angry.

Darien's lack of an appropriate reaction to Serena's accusation fueled her anger further and she glared at him menacingly. Darien continued to stare at Serena completely unfrazzled by her glare and just grinned down at her annoyingly. The two didn't know for how long they kept standing there just staring at each other till they heard someone clear their throat to get their attention. Darien and Serena whipped their heads around in the direction of the sound. In front of them stood a tall and very handsome man, dressed immaculately in a black tuxedo and tie. Serena noticed that he was almost as tall as Darien and had the body of an athlete, his hair was platinum blonde and his eyes were a vibrant green. He was smiling at them like the Cheshire cat and Serena couldn't help but blush under his penetrating gaze.

"Well if it isn't Darien Shields in the flesh!" He feigned surprise and moved forward to shake Darien's hand.

"Hello, Joseph." Darien greeted him, giving the man a warm smile and took his waiting hand into his in a friendly hand shake.

"I can't believe you actually decided to come, I thought I would never see you after…." The man trailed off as his eyes fell on Serena standing next to Darien.

"Ohhh hello." He said raising his eyebrows and looking at Serena from top to toe, openly checking her out.

Darien cleared his throat in a blatantly irritated way.

"Oh I am so sorry, where are my manners."He said extending his hand out to Serena, blushing at his openly flirtatious manner, Serena hesitantly put her hand in his, expecting him to shake her hand much like he shook Darien's. Instead he lifted her hand up to his lips and kissed it, Serena felt awkward at the gesture and smiled bashfully at him, a blush spread across Serena's face, right from the tips of her blonde hair till down her chest. The man smiled pleased with her reaction and Darien glowered from their interaction.

"I am afraid we haven't ever met before, my name is Joseph Wells and this….is my humble abode." He said gesturing around animatedly, openly showing off to Serena.

Serena being oblivious to the man's flirtations, took his behavior up as the man's good and friendly nature, she smiled genuinely and replied.

"Serena…." She began but wasn't allowed to finish.

"And she is _**my**_ fiancée." Darien cut in possessively.

Joseph chuckled delighted, he found Darien's reaction to his harmless flirting with Serena endlessly amusing. He made a mental note to do this more often.

Serena on the other hand looked with confusion and annoyance at Darien's rude interruption and wrote down his jealousy as one of Darien's antics to get a rise out of her.

"Well don't let me keep you two waiting, please go inside and have a great time."

Their host stepped aside and made a grand gesture for them to enter further into the mansion. The couple smiled at him gratefully and walked passed him into the house. Joseph watched silently smiling as the two walked passed him. He noticed how Darien's hand moved possessively back to his lovely fiancée's back. Joseph silently chuckled to himself as he once again noticed the couple's attire. He figured some real shit must have gone down for the young couple to be dressed the way they were, he noticed how the people gave them odd looks for their clothes, Serena walked warily obviously feeling conscious of herself, but Darien seemed as comfortable he would have been in a suit. They definitely made an interesting pair.

Darien held Serena to him protectively as they made their way through the throng of guests, he wasn't bothered by the odd looks they were getting, what annoyed him to know end was the men checking Serena out so openly. He started scowling ominously at everyone who dared to look her way, the hand resting on Serena's back tightened on its own accord and made her look up at him to find him scowling furiously.

"Are you alright?"

Drawn out of his profuse frowning by her voice, Darien looked down at Serena looking up at him with confusion on her face.

"Nothing."He muttered still annoyed.

"I've never really been to a party of this standard you know." Serena suddenly confessed, " I have been to many but nothing quite at this scale."

"That's because our town is so small, this is a megacity." Darien explained.

"They look quite intimidating." Serena said looking around at the hoards of people moving around, eating and chatting away.

"I don't know about intimidating but, their awfully boring." Darien replied shrugging his shoulders and sighing loudly for affect.

Serena giggled for the first time that night.

"What do you even do at a charity ball? I mean wouldn't it have been better to just donate all the money spent here to the charity instead of throwing a party!" Serena noted loudly.

"It's probably the illusion of doing a noble deed whilst you party and enjoy, that makes it sound appealing." Darien replied.

"Well then let's make the best of the illusion?" Serena asked him jokingly.

Darien smiled charmingly at her suggestion in agreement. He bowed down slightly and held out a hand for Serena.

"Can I have the honor of this dance, my fair lady?"

Serena giggled and took his hand without a second thought. Darien smoothly glided them between the couples on the dance floor and began waltzing with Serena. They made quite the sight waltzing amongst the formally dressed couples in their leather jackets and denim wear. They didn't notice the odd looks they were still getting for their appearance; the couple was once again lost in their own world, where only the two of them existed. They danced together for several songs and enjoyed each other's company in silence. They didn't need words to communicate, the quieter they became the more they could hear and so they listened. Words didn't need to be said where their silence did the talking. Darien and Serena didn't have to tell one another they had a magic between them, they just knew. They knew they had something rare between them, something very special. Something that went even beyond love.

"Darien?" Serena spoke from below Darien finally breaking the silence after what seemed like hours, her head rested on his chest and her arms were wrapped around his neck.

"Hmm?" Darien asked her, his eyes still closed, his hands hugging Serena to him protectively.

"There is someone staring at us and it is creeping me out."

Darien opened his eyes slowly, the spell that had been cast over them slowly lifted. His hazy eyes cleared and focused as her words sunk in, he frowned and looked down at Serena.

"What?"

"That lady there, she looks pissed off." Serena said simply.

Darien's eyes followed in the direction Serena was looking in and saw a gorgeous red head, with flawless white skin, in a golden halter gown staring daggers at them. Darien didn't seem to recognize the lady and shrugged.

" Some weirdo." He said. "Come on let's get out of here." Not waiting for Serena to reply he caught hold of Serena's hand and started weaving their way through the crowd of dancing couples.

"Ladies and gentlemen." A loud voice boomed in the great hall as the musicians stopped playing the music and the guests stopped doing whatever they were to look in the direction the voice had come from. Darien and Serena stopped in their tracks and turned in the direction the voice came from. It was their host Joseph Wells.

"I am honored to have you all grace my humble home tonight for this great cause and I am so thankful to you all for all the help. But there is a small surprise for all of you'll tonight. I have organized a small auction tonight of some rare valuables and collectibles, the proceedings of which will all be given for charity towards orphan children. So please do attend and enjoy yourselves." Their host finished talking and the entire hall began clapping happily.

Serena looked confused and turned to look at Darien.

"Why are they so happy about an auction?"

"No one likes to give up a chance to show off." Darien replied in a bored tone as if it was the most obvious thing in world.

As they watched, the great hall was converted into an auction room with a table set up on the elevated pedestal where the band still sat. Joseph himself sat at the table, ready to conduct the auction.

"Let the auction begin." Joseph boomed and the entire room cheered him on.

Serena watched in amazement as the auction began. The first thing to be auctioned was what they said to be an old pocket watch from the mid Victorian era, apparently it was 18 ct gold, with a chronometer and was handmade. The bid began at 13,000 pounds to Serena's surprise. The bid went on for about 7 minutes and the watch was finally sold to a Mr. Wesley for a whooping 20,000 pounds.

"But it's just a pocket watch." Serena told Darien.

"But it's all for a good cause." Darien replied, his voice laced with sarcasm, his comment won a giggle from Serena.

The next item on the list was a charm bracelet that had apparently belonged to some princess, the bid had begun at 5000 pounds and women were aggressively bidding over it. The bracelet was finally sold for 25,000 pounds, to a wealthy heiress, who beamed in satisfaction, not particularly because she won the bracelet, she seemed more happy about the face that she had beaten everyone else to it. Serena couldn't understand why she would be so happy after she paid 20,000 extra pounds for it. In Serena's eyes it was she looked like the loser.

"It becomes more of a battle of egos than an auction of rare merchandise." Darien was looking down at Serena and had read the look of shock and confusion in her eyes at the bid.

The bid continued and several other items were auctioned off. It was actually getting quite entertaining to watch the people get aggressive and start losing their temper as they tried to out bid the other. Some people went as far as to abuse and name call each other. The auction was obviously more of a means of showing off ones wealth, than a charity event. But perhaps, Serena thought wryly, it worked out better for the kids this way, because the people in their effort to outdo each other were bidding higher and higher and increasing the amount for the donation in the process.

Finally the bid came to an end and the final and apparently most exquisite piece was going to be displayed for the auction.

"Ladies and gentlemen…" their host began, "the last piece for auction tonight", he announced and raised a blue sapphire and diamond diadem delicately up in his hands for everyone to see. As he lifted the diadem up in his hand, loud gasps and murmurs of appreciation could be heard coming from the crowd.

Serena's eyes widened and she gasped in appreciation.

Serena watched the diadem sparkle under the bright lights above it. She was instantly mesmerized, she watched it in awe. It was just a string of uncut diamonds set in the shape of waves that were made to sit on ones head, like a band around ones crown. It wasn't the shape, or the delicacy by which it was made that took Serena's breathe away, it was the large sapphires that dangled delicately below the band that made her fall almost instantly in love with the piece, the sapphires that were the exact color of a certain pair of eyes she had fallen in love with. She vaguely heard Joseph telling everyone that the diadem had belonged to some princess two hundred years ago and it was platinum, handmade and all that fancy jazz.

"So the bid starts at 70,000 pounds."

Serena's heart fell, it was just too much. She heard people start bidding for the coveted diadem almost immediately within a few seconds the bid had gone up to 85,000 pounds. She sighed sadly. She had loved the piece, but it was just too much and she would never buy something so expensive for herself and be happy, it wasn't worth it.

Darien had looked down at Serena when he heard her gasp and saw how she was watching the diadem; her eyes were glassy as she stared at it. He saw how she was crestfallen when she heard the starting bid of the piece, his heart melted.

"A 100,000." She heard from right next to her. Serena's head shot up in alarm and she stared wide eyed at Darien.

"Wow." Joseph chuckled. "That has been the highest bid today, anyone bids above 100,000 pounds? Going once, going twice…."

"105." Serena heard a feminine voice say from close by, she searched for the owner of the voice and was fairly surprised to see the lady who had been staring at them at the dance floor had bid higher.

"110." Darien said unfazed.

"115." The red head bid further.

"125." Darien said coolly.

Serena gasped loudly, her eyes wide with shock.

"130." The woman did not relent.

"150."

"160." The woman glared at Darien and bid yet higher.

"200,000." He said calmly, his voice unwavering.

The crowd waited with baited breathe for someone to bid further but no sound came. Serena was just stunned beyond belief, she couldn't believe Darien, who had just been talking to her about how useless these auctions were had bid 200,000 pounds!

"Darien, what are you doing!" She asked me in an urgent whisper.

He turned around and looked down at her simply giving her a satisfactory smile.

"Does anyone bid above 200,000? Ok 200,000 going once, 200,000 going twice, 200,000 going thrice and sold!

Serena turned to look sympathetically at the lady who had lost the bid to Darien. She on the other hand was staring daggers at Serena.

"What's her problem?" Serena mumbled under her breathe.

Darien on the other hand, heard what she said and looked at the lady glaring at them and frowned.

"Sore loser, I guess." He said smugly and shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"Come on princess your diadem awaits." He told Serena and led her to the podium. He quickly pulled out a check book from his jacket and casually wrote a check for 200,000 pounds and handed it to Joseph, who took it from Darien and smiled at him like the Cheshire cat. Darien returned his smile with a grimace and took the offered wooden box that held the diadem.

Serena watched the men in a confused manner, still reeling from Darien's spontaneous buy. He seemed so unfazed and casual about splurging 200,000 pounds on a diadem. Serena had come from a wealthy family herself and was used to expensive and luxurious living, but never in her life would she consider to spend so much on herself! It was just too over the top, she would feel guilty wasting so much money on something she could barely wear.

Joseph gave Serena the you-are-a-lucky-girl smile and winked at her, Serena smiled back shyly and blushed. Darien frowned.

As the shock settled Serena looked at Darien with an eternally grateful smile, her eyes shining with awe for the man standing in front of her. He smiled charmingly at her and presented the box to her, Serena moved her hands to take them from him but he suddenly pulled it back from her reach. Serena looked up at him with confusion in her eyes.

"Forgetting something?" He asked her teasingly.

Serena smiled shyly. "Thank you." She said meaning it with all her heart.

"That's it?" Darien asked her with a devilish smile.

Serena blushed profusely and stared at him with her wide blue eyes in yet more surprise.

"Well?" Darien pressed on and walked right in front of Serena and leaned head down and closed his eyes, waiting for his kiss.

Serena felt eyes on her and looked around to see several guests staring at them indulgently, some of the women look at her enviously and the redhead was still glaring daggers her way. Serena turned to see Darien still waiting for his kiss, Darien looked so innocent with his eyes closed and his expression expectant. He was definitely a very annoying man, but above all he was the most amazing man she knew. He was the man she loved. Without stressing her mind on thinking so much, Serena decided to stop thinking and make the leap. This was the least she could do to thank him. Closing her eyes and giving up all her thoughts she kissed him.

Serena felt an exciting chill go up her spine when her lips touched Darien's. His lips were the softest and sweetest drug in the world she thought to herself wryly, she wouldn't ever accept it to him though, but she loved how he had asked her to kiss him as a thank you for his gift to her. She felt a confidence rise inside her, when she felt such an amazing man find her so worthy that he would spend so much just to please her. Reluctantly she ended the kiss quickly, not wanting Darien to think she enjoyed kissing him.

Darien looked disappointed when the kiss ended so quickly, he didn't bother hiding it either. He feigned a pout and handed the box in her now waiting hands begrudgingly.

"Thank you so much, Darien. No one has ever done something so special for me." Serena told him honestly, putting up all her gratitude up for display in her shiny, blue eyes.

Grinning charmingly at her, Darien dismissed her apology with a wave of his hands.

"Anything for you, princess." He bowed his head slightly being dramatic.

Serena giggled and held the box close to her chest.

"Shall we go get something to eat?" He asked her changing the topic.

"Yes please!" Serena said, nodding her head fervently.

He held out his hand to Serena and she took it without a second thought. He began leading her down the podium when their path was blocked with the creepy redhead, who had glared at them all night.

Serena looked at her curiously and Darien seemed annoyed by her interference.

"Excuse me, you are blocking our path." Darien said sounding a little too irritated.

"I'll just take a minute of your time,." She told him understandingly.

"We really need to be….." Darien began agitated, he was going to decline her again when Serena cut in.

"Oh come on, Dare. Stop being so rude!" Serena reprimanded him.

Darien looked at Serena, opening his mouth to argue, when the lady spoke.

"Hi, my name is Anna and you are?" She asked Serena and smiled oddly.

Serena looked at the lady analyzing her subtly. The woman had sounded kind enough, but there was just something in her eyes and the way she smiled, she seemed odd.

"Just leaving." Darien told her and proceeded to all but drag Serena by the hand. Now Serena was annoyed and pulled her hand from his and stood her ground.

"What's wrong with you!" She told him completely pissed.

The lady looked smiled at Darien wickedly and turned to look at Serena who was now talking to her.

"Hi, I am Serena." She extended the hand that she had wrenched free from Darien for a warm hand shake.

"How do you know, Darien?" The lady asked, giving another one of her odd looks at Darien.

He stared back at her impassively.

"Oh, he is my fiancé." Serena told her, smiling warmly at Darien. "How do you know him?" Serena asked curiously eyeing Darien. The entire night he had totally seemed to disregard the lady and behave like he didn't know her, but she knew him. This was getting as creepy as the looks the lady had been giving her all night.

"I actually came here to congratulate you for winning the auction." She told Serena, changing the topic suddenly and making it very obvious.

"Thank you." Serena told her slowly, feeling the air around them become tense suddenly. "So how do you know Darien?" Serena asked again.

Anna opened her mouth to speak, but Darien cut her off suddenly.

"Come on, Rena. I thought you wanted to go eat." He sounded oddly uncomfortable.

Anna looked at Darien and gave a mysterious smile.

Serena frowned at Darien.

"What's going on?" Serena asked Darien, looking him straight in the eyes. Darien looked straight back at her and didn't reply. Serena's instincts were starting to tell her something was so wrong here.

"You haven't told her about me, Darien?" Anna asked Darien feigning hurt.

"Serena, sweetheart, let's just go, I'll explain everything to you later."

"Tell me what?" Serena asked.

"That I am his wife of course."

Ok, so here it is, I hope you all enjoyed it. I amsorry I have been updating so late, but I just had a huge creativity block and didn't know how to go ahead, anyway the next chapters going to be more exciting with alot of story development and activity from our favorite couple. I also want to thank everyone who loved my story and reviewed it, you guys encourage me alot to keep going. Thank you, ever grateful to you all. I will update the next chapter ASAP.


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